Rise of Rain - Tower Falling Sequel
by itsmadyagain
Summary: Everything was falling apart. Patience was wearing thin. It'd taken them more than a year to join the Eye, and now that the Horsemen had been accepted into the Eye's ranks, a year has passed and nothing has come out of it. Dylan says to be patient, which proves to be very difficult. All it takes is a mission from one very important sociopath to set things back on track.
1. Prologue

**Hello and welcome to the sequel to _Tower Falling_! If you've seen _Now You See Me 2_ , you should get the title (unless I'm too obscure; I couldn't think of another title, so we're going with this). It should also be safe to read this prologue, even if you haven't seen the movie. A couple of things get spoiled, but nothing major at all - I promise. So, I hope you guys enjoy this! I doubt I'll be updating this before the movie is released on DVD, as I'm gonna jump right into the movie after the prologue. Hopefully this will tide you guys over until then? I thought we could all do with some fluffiness.**

 **Prologue**

"Danny, you realize that you drive me absolutely bat shit crazy, right?"

Daniel Atlas looked up from his book, one eyebrow raised. He was sitting cross-legged on the couch with one elbow propped up on the armrest. "Um, yes. You've told me that several times before, Andie."

I moved from where I'd been leaning against the door frame and walked over to him. He patted the empty space on the sofa beside him and I sat down, immediately drawing my legs up beside me. Danny lifted his arm. Grinning, I ducked under it and laid my head on his shoulder. His arm casually draped itself around me moments later.

I was quiet for a minute, just watching his face as his blue eyes scanned the words on the pages in front of them. But I can only be quiet for so long. "Why do you insist on leaving your dirty dishes in the sink?"

He smirked without looking away from the page. "Because I know how much it bothers you."

"You're a menace."

He laughed and ran a hand through my hair, kissing the top of my head right after. "I know."

Danny's phone went off at the same time as mine did. The group chat. Of course. God only knows how much I despise the damn thing.

Danny laid his book in his lap and grabbed his phone, holding it so I could see it too. Jack had texted: _When are we going to finally do something? Merritt sucks at throwing cards and I'm getting tired of teaching him._

I stifled a laugh; Danny merely smiled. "What do we say back?" I asked, reaching to grab my own phone from the coffee table.

Before I could touch it, they both went off again. Dylan.

 _Be patient. The Eye has a plan._

Danny stood up so quickly the book flew off his lap and I smacked my head on the armrest. "Shit - ow," I said, propping myself up on my elbow. I rubbed the side of my head with my free hand. "Danny?"

He wasn't looking at me; all I got was his profile. His hands were clenched around his phone as he furiously typed out a message. My phone buzzed seconds later. _Why do you keep saying that? Why the hell can't the Eye just tell us what to do already? It's been a year!_

 _Be patient. The Eye has a plan._ The same thing Dylan always responded with.

Danny made a noise of frustration and dropped his phone on the rug, running a hand through his hair. "Goddammit," he said, his voice snappy. "Why can't he just give us a straight answer for once? I'm so tired of all this _bullshit_!"

I set my phone aside and got off the couch, crossing over to where he stood with his shoulders tensed like he was prepping for an attack. "Danny," I said sternly. He hummed. "I told you to stop worrying about this."

"Andie - "

"The Eye will give us a mission when the time is right for it." I wrapped my arms around his torso from behind and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. Slowly, I felt his tense muscles relax against me. "I bet they're saving up something really great for us."

Danny ran a finger back and forth across one of my hands. "This just isn't what I imagined it'd be," he said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "I thought joining the Eye would mean constantly performing magic in front of huge crowds and stopping criminals from exploiting other people. But we haven't done anything other than hide out and pretend like we really disappeared after our final performance in New York last year."

I leaned my forehead between his shoulder blades and hugged him tightly. "I know it's frustrating, Danny, but you shouldn't get so worked up about it. Things'll be okay."

"Things haven't been okay, though," he said bitterly. "Henley gave up on waiting and left. Merritt and Jack are so bored that Merritt's trying to teach Jack how to hypnotize people and Jack's trying to teach Merritt to throw cards." He heaved a heavy sigh and put his face in his hands. "And you're just waiting for the right moment to leave me because I'm such a shitty boyfriend. The Horsemen are falling apart. _We're_ falling apart."

"Hey." I stepped back and gripped his shoulder, whipping him around to face me. "We're not falling apart." He rolled his eyes and I reached up to grab his chin with one hand. My eyes narrowed. " _Hey_. We're fine. You and me." I took one of his hands in my free one and smiled. "We're fine. Okay?"

He leaned toward me and rested his forehead against mine. He closed his eyes. "We're fine?"

"Of course."

He sighed. His breath was minty when it hit my face. "We're fine."

I tilted my face up and pressed a quick kiss to the tip of his nose. "You're not a shitty boyfriend. Don't say that to me again."

Danny squeezed my hand and stepped back. "I leave dishes in the sink all the time. And you told me I drive you bat shit crazy."

I laughed. "But that's just you. You've been driving me crazy since the moment I met you." He grinned and nodded a little. "And just because you leave dishes in the sink doesn't mean I like you any less. There are worse things you could do."

He set his hands on my waist with a small smile. "Like what?"

I tilted my head to the side with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Break my heart?"

I didn't really expect a kiss so suddenly, but it happened anyway - not that I minded. He had moved close enough to me that our bodies were pressed together and his hands were on the small of my back. I ran my fingers over the short strands of hair at the back of his head. He'd shaved his hair pretty short after Merritt accidentally got a huge wad of gum stuck in pretty boy's fabulous hair. He couldn't do with one short chunk of hair, so I guess the best option in his eyes was to just get rid of it all.

Honestly, he was cute either way.

Danny pulled away from me not long after he started kissing me. He was smiling, but I could see the seriousness in his eyes. "You know I would never do that." I grinned and punched his shoulder. He winced and rubbed where I'd hit him. "What the hell, Andie?"

"That better be true," I said sternly, trying to mask my smile. "I'd kick your ass if you hurt me, you know."

Danny scratched the back of his neck. "I feel like you'll hurt me before I ever hurt you. You're so violent. And kinda scary."

I winked. "You know you like it."

He gave an exaggerated eye roll. "Yeah, _I guess_." I punched his shoulder again, a little harder than before. "Ow. See what I mean?"

Both of us were laughing by that point, enough that we ended up falling back onto the couch. Danny pulled me into his arms and held me against his chest. It didn't take me as long as I had thought it would to get used to sweet, overly affectionate Danny. I actually kind of loved it. I wasn't quite as caustic as I was when I first became a Horseman, but I could put him in his place if I really wanted to. I was content to just relax for long hours beside him, though. Fighting with him wasn't a common trend anymore.

"What're you thinking about?"

I blinked, my mind blank for a moment. I tilted my face back to look up at him. "I don't want you to worry anymore about when we're going to get a mission from the Eye. Okay? Pretending we disappeared isn't horrible; we can do it for a little while longer." Danny sighed and nodded. "Promise me, Danny. You're not going to stress about this anymore."

He maintained eye contact with me when he spoke. "I'm not going to stress about it anymore. Happy?"

I just nodded and pretended like I hadn't felt his fingers cross against my back.


	2. Chapter One

**I lied. Well, not actually lied. I just changed my mind. I went and saw NYSM2 again yesterday with my brother because he hadn't seen it yet (actually I just wanted to see it again and didn't want to go alone so I dragged him along), and I realized that the book really wouldn't be very long if I jumped right into the movie, so we're gonna have some "filler" chapters to build up the story some more before we jump into everything that happens in the movie. Sound good? (I dunno why you'd say no...) Also, I started writing this at 2 a.m. because I was still gross-sobbing about Anton Yelchin. (My poor, sweet Pavel. Why? WHY?) Heh... Anyway, enjoy!**

 **Chapter One**

I was wide awake. I had been for a while. Sleep wasn't coming anymore, and when it did, it was in short bursts. Nightmares constantly plagued my mind, contorting past memories into things straight out of a Stephen King novel - well, maybe not quite that dramatic. But they were still awful, and most of the time I woke up screaming or crying at ungodly hours of the night, waking up Danny as a result. Surprisingly, he'd never gotten angry with me about it. Apparently he was more concerned about my wellbeing than his lack of beauty sleep. Not that he really needed any, if that was what he was going for.

It was around two in the morning. That was one of those nights where I hadn't been screaming upon my exiting the nightmare. It was just shaking, though I wasn't sure if it was from being cold, and crying. The gross, ugly sobbing that comes from watching too many _Supernatural_ season finales in a short span of time. And, yes, maybe I'm that person that enjoys that sick torture. But that wasn't what had me in tears that night.

Darren.

Almost eighteen months had passed since that arrogant, psychopathic dickhead was arrested and left my life for good, and I somehow still couldn't manage to get him out of my head. Endless tormenting constantly plagued my brain while I tried to sleep, showering my dreams with the incessant phone calls, the love proclamations, and the threats. Most nights, it was just the threats.

 _If he lays a finger on you, I'll kill him._

It was an empty threat. They were all empty threats, or at least I had hoped they were. I hadn't even liked Danny at the time. I didn't want him dead, obviously, but there was no real reason for me to be so freaked out about it now. Darren was locked away, the doctors having decided that he did have some form of a mental disorder. I couldn't remember the exact name for it, but it didn't matter. He was a danger to public safety, and he wouldn't be wandering the streets anymore. There was no reason for me to be afraid for Danny's life; there was no way Darren could kill him.

When I was awake, I was rational. Lying there at two in the morning, trying to slow my heart rate and pretend like my face and pillow weren't completely soaked from tears, I knew that Darren couldn't hurt Danny. But when I was asleep, it was different. My mind couldn't process that the threat had been removed and that Danny was safe, sleeping soundly beside me, snoring enough that the windows were probably rattling. The nightmare was too real.

 _I'll kill him._

Even when awake, the aftershocks of the dream were still present, trying to keep their hold on me for as long as they could. I had absolutely no idea why I hadn't had these nightmares when all of that shit was actually going on. Danny said I had PTSD; I thought I was going crazy.

"You can't hurt him," I whispered, gripping the sheets tightly in my fists as I stared into the darkness of the bedroom. I was proud of myself for how fierce my quiet voice sounded in the otherwise silent room. "You can't. I won't let you."

"Andie?" Danny's voice was nothing more than a mumble. He rolled over onto his side and rubbed one eye, cracking the other one open to look at me. I laid completely still, hoping he'd think I was asleep; I hated waking him. "Andie, I know you're not sleeping. Look at me."

I turned over until I was facing him. Both of his eyes were open now, though not fully. There was still a chance of him falling back asleep quickly. "I'm sorry for waking you up," I said quietly. "Go back to sleep. I'm alright."

He reached a hand out and slid it under my head. I sighed; he was feeling the pillow. "Andie," he said sternly.

"I was drooling."

His scoff was barely audible. His hand moved from under my head to my face. His thumb brushed beneath my eye. "Right. Because everyone drools from their eyes." I was silent. "How long have you been awake?"

"A half hour?" I wasn't totally sure.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I shrugged. He opened his arms. "Come here."

I scooted over into his embrace, leaning my head against his chest. The warmth of his skin instantly stopped me from continuing to shake; it must've been the cold after all. He wrapped his arms tightly around me, holding me to him like I was his life line. He reached one hand up and began to stroke my hair.

"Are you okay?" he asked after a few minutes.

I shook my head. "I don't know."

"What was it tonight? Darren?" I nodded. "The same thing it usually is?" Again, I nodded.

He squeezed me a little and kissed my hair. "Nothing bad is going to happen to me. And nothing bad is going to happen to you, either." he said. "Don't worry about it anymore. He can't get us here."

"I know," I said in a small voice.

He ran a hand through my hair. His fingers got caught a couple times in my curls, to which he gently tugged them free. The number one downside to bedhead. "We're going to be okay," he said. "Just like you said. We're okay, and we always will be. Right?"

I tilted my head back to smile up at him. "Right."

He leaned down and kissed my forehead, lingering for a few moments. "You mean the world to me," he said, his lips barely brushing my skin. "I can't stand knowing you're hurting like this."

I kissed his lips, my hand on the back of his neck to hold him in place until I was satisfied. He didn't fight me. When I pulled away, he kissed my nose. "You make it hurt less," I said softly, laying my head on his chest again. "They're not as bad as they used to be. Maybe I'll be back to normal soon."

"I hope so. You're too tired all the time. It's weird not having you yelling at me all hours of the day. You need to get more sleep and be back to your usual hotheaded self."

I laughed a little. "I didn't think that was something you liked." I lightly tapped his shoulder. "Plus, I don't yell at you all hours of the day. Only when you deserve it."

It was Danny's turn to laugh. "Good. It'd be weird if you stopped." He pressed his face into my hair; I could feel his smile. "Try to go back to sleep. I want you to get as many hours as you can."

"You should fall back asleep, too, you know."

He rubbed little circles against the fabric of my t-shirt with his fingers. "No, I'm going to stay awake for a little while. You go ahead." He didn't elaborate, but he didn't need to. I knew why he was choosing to stay awake; he was waiting to make sure I fell asleep. To make sure I was okay. He always did.

I nodded then rolled over until I was facing away from him. He loosened his grip on me until I was settled and comfortable, and then he held me tightly once more. We were silent for a few moments until I spoke again. "Danny?" He made a quiet noise of acknowledgment. "Thank you."

He kissed the top of my head. "Of course," he said softly. He lowered his voice into an even quieter whisper. "Go to sleep, Andie. I've got you."

I closed my eyes and fell asleep to the feel of his chest rumbling against my back as he quietly hummed in the darkness.

oOoOo

A playing card skimmed my cheek. I lifted a hand like I was going to knock it away, but it was already on the floor. Lifting my arm so suddenly upset my balance, and I fell from the arm of the chair onto the cushions with a short yelp.

"Dude," Jack Wilder said, coming over to stand in front of me. He set his cards on the end table and looked down, the worry clearly present on his face. "Andie, how much sleep did you get last night?"

I shrugged and sat up, stifling a yawn. "Um, I woke up around two and didn't get back to sleep until closer to three. And then I woke up again at three-thirty." I really yawned this time. "So, not a whole lot of sleep."

Merritt McKinney walked out of the kitchen carrying two mugs of coffee and balancing another in the crook of his arm. After we joined the Eye and our final performance was over, the two of them decided to move into an apartment together. Usually when I came over it was to hear them fighting over who would get the top bunk. Today, they were focusing on something else: me. The very _last_ thing I wanted them to focus on.

"You've got to get this issue figured out," Merritt said, handing me one of the coffee mugs. He took the one he was balancing on his arm and gave it to Jack; sitting down beside me, he took a sip of his own. "What if Dylan gets a mission for us and you're so tired you mess everything up?" He ruffled my hair lovingly, giving me a sarcastic smile.

I punched his shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous. You'll mess something up before I do."

Jack wedged himself into the seat on my other side and slung an arm over my shoulders. "Good joke," he said politely. "But really, Andie, you need to get this sorted out. The bags under your eyes are darker than your soul."

Merritt slapped him a high-five behind my head. I smiled a little. "Very funny." I laid my head on Merritt's shoulder and tapped Jack's cheek with my fist. "It's not like I can help it, guys. I can't control what I think about when I sleep." I gave a short laugh. "I can hardly control what I'm thinking about when I'm awake."

"Merritt could always hypnotize you into not having nightmares anymore," Jack said, leaning on my shoulder so the both of us were slumped over on the mentalist.

"I don't know that that's how it works," I said slowly. I tried to fight a smile and failed. Jack stared at me and the smile turned into a grin. I threw an arm around his neck and gave him a side hug. "But thanks for the suggestion."

Merritt poked Jack in the side of the head. "I couldn't hypnotize her, anyway. She's seen all my tricks."

"Could I do it?" Jack asked, sitting up a little more. His expression turned to one of an overexcited puppy. "I've been practicing, Andie, I swear I have been! I'm good at it!"

Merritt threw his head back and cackled. "He's actually terrible at it."

Jack bolted upright and leaned across me to punch Merritt in the stomach. The older man groaned a little and shoved Jack off the couch. Both of them were laughing, and so was I. Jack rolled over onto his back and clasped his hands behind his head. "I'm getting better at it. You've gotta admit it. I'm a lot better at mentalism than you are at throwing cards." He looked up at me. "He's horrible. The cards don't even go a foot before they come back at him."

"I know how to do it," Merritt insisted, kicking Jack's foot.

"Playing cards aren't boomerangs, Merritt. That's not what they're supposed to do. You just suck at life."

Merritt jumped off the couch and tackled Jack, to which they both started wrestling with each other. I laughed from the couch, taking large gulps from my coffee and feeling the liquid energy starting to wake me up. When it was completely drained, I set the mug aside and resumed watching the show going on before me. Merritt had Jack in a headlock, but Jack dug an elbow into the mentalist's side and succeeded in getting loose. Their yelling was all I could hear.

Merritt tried to stand. I cupped my hands around my mouth just as Jack wrapped his arms around Merritt from behind and sent him to the floor again. "Careful, Jack," I said. "Merritt's old bones aren't what they used to be."

Spoke too soon. Merritt reached out a hand, grabbed my ankle, and yanked me off the couch and to the floor. The two of them laid on their backs on either side of me and chuckled. They high-fived each other again. "Got her," Merritt said.

"Hope you're awake now," Jack went on. "You look pretty awake."

I bumped his shoulder with my forehead. "Thanks, guys." I stretched my arms out. "Also, I'm pretty sure I got rug burn on my elbows when you dragged me off the couch."

"Have fun explaining that one to Danny," Merritt said cheekily. I glared.

Jack rolled onto his side and laid his head on his arm. "Where is Danny, by the way? What're you even doing here?"

"You say it like I don't come over a lot."

"You don't," Merritt said. "You're usually busy with Danny, do whatever it is you two do on a daily basis." He wiggled his eyebrows. "What would that be, exactly?"

I rolled my eyes. "Well my day usually consists of watching TV and reading and teaching myself new magic tricks while Danny paces and tries to figure out how to get the Eye to give us a mission already."

"So basically, what all of us are thinking about doing, he's actually doing?" Merritt said, clarifying.

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm getting a little tired of it, honestly. They'll give us a mission when they have one ready. There's no sense in pushing it. It's the Eye, after all. We should trust their judgment." I shrugged. "So that's why I'm here. I had to get out of the apartment for a little while. And he keeps trying to get me to take a nap."

"Why don't you?" Jack asked. "You need more sleep. You look half dead."

"I usually do."

Merritt frowned. "You're paler than you usually are, sister. And Jack was right about the bags under your eyes; you look like a walking corpse."

I scowled. "Good to know you guys think I'm pretty."

"You already know you're pretty. You don't need us to tell you."

I nudged Jack's shoulder with my own. "Thanks, buddy."

We were quiet for a little while, just lying there on the floor. Merritt's lips were pursed like he was in deep thought, which is never a good thing. After a few more minutes, he turned his face toward Jack and me. "Do you think if you talked to Dylan he'd do something about it? Something to help?"

"Good idea, Merritt."

"Thanks, Danny," Merritt said.

The three of us froze, then shot up off the floor altogether a second later. Danny was leaning against the doorframe, his arms folded across his chest. I was expecting anger, or even a little bit of irritation, since I hadn't exactly told him where I was going before walking out while he was in the bathroom, but there wasn't any of that on his face. There was just relief.

"I was hoping I'd find you here, Andie," he said, strolling further into the room. "And I already thought to ask Dylan what we could do about her insomnia, but she won't let me," he said to the other two.

Jack and Merritt both turned toward me with frustrated glares. I held up my hands in defense. "I'm not an insomniac. I get a few hours every now and then. And I don't want Dylan to know. He's got enough to worry about already, between communicating with the Eye to get us a mission and putting up with _Daniel's_ constant complaints."

Danny wrapped an arm around me, yanking me against his side. "Don't use my full name in that tone of voice. You sound like a disappointed mother."

"I called you by your full name for months after I met you."

"I know. Don't do it with that tone. I'm having childhood flashbacks."

I laughed and leaned my head on his shoulder. "Fine, I'll stop. Why are you here?"

He rolled his eyes. "What, am I not allowed to see you anymore? Or Jack and Merritt?" I knew for a fact that Danny had spent even less time in Jack and Merritt's apartment than I had. Something was up.

"I'm not going home to take a nap."

"Andie," he said warningly.

I crossed my arms and stepped away from him toward Merritt and Jack. "I won't be able to sleep anyway. Merritt gave me coffee." Danny glared at the older man. "Oh, don't do that. I needed it. He was being a good friend." Merritt ruffled my hair in confirmation.

Danny sighed. "Fine. You don't have to sleep, but at least come home. I don't like the idea of you spending a lot of time here. I don't want _those two_ to corrupt you."

Jack laughed. "Pretty sure _she_ corrupted _us_. She's the worst of the three of us."

"I know she is," Danny said, rubbing his forehead like he was fighting an oncoming migraine. He probably was. That's what usually happened when he was around the three of us.

I got up on my toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Merritt and Jack pretended to gag from behind me; I ignored them. "Come on, let's get you home and get you some Tylenol for that headache." I waved at Merritt and Jack. "Bye, boys." They waved back.

Danny followed when I started to walk toward the front door. "How'd you know?" he asked quietly.

I looked over my shoulder at him and smirked. "Lovers' intuition," I said with a wink. I took his hand in mine. "Come on. Let's go home."


	3. Chapter Two

**This chapter is kinda short, but I have plans for the next part of it and I wanted to get this out to you as soon as I could because I'm on vacation and I don't have as much time to focus on writing. (I've been up since 2:30 in the morning don't judge me I only got three hours of sleep before my flight.) Anyway, I hope you like this little bit. I'll have the next part out as soon as I can!**

 **Chapter Two**

My eyes were glued to the TV screen. Danny and I had been watching the news when there was a sudden emergency announcement. It was still flashing on the screen, the scroll bar beneath the "Breaking News" headline seeming to fly by at a hundred miles an hour. "High security patient has escaped from mental institution; New Yorkers are recommended to stay indoors."

"It's Darren," I said, my voice shaking as badly as my hands. I set my mug of coffee aside before I spilled it; I couldn't tell if my hands were vibrating from fear or from too much caffeine. "Danny, it's Darren."

"It's not Darren," he said consolingly, coming up behind me and putting his hands on my shoulders. He applied a little pressure and started to massage the tension out of my body. "They said it was a high security patient. Darren's not dangerous enough to need high security."

I leaned back against the cushions, the remote clutched tightly in my hand. "Are you sure?"

Danny kissed the top of my head. "Yes, Andie, I'm sure. Change the channel. You shouldn't keep watching this; it won't make your nightmares any better."

He squeezed my shoulders again before he let go and turned to walk toward the window. He told me to change the channel, but I couldn't. My hands wouldn't let me. It was like I couldn't move. I was frozen, staring at the screen as the name of the patient popped up. _Darren Lee_.

I jumped off the couch, but it was as though I couldn't move my feet any further. "Danny, it's Darren!" I shrieked, pointing at the screen. A photo of the escaped patient appeared immediately after and my heart nearly gave out. "Oh, _God_!"

It was Darren, but it wasn't Darren. There was the reddish blonde hair, but it was longer in some spots than others. One of his eyes was missing, a long scratch that looked like it hadn't properly healed running across the empty socket and down over his mouth to his jaw. There was a smile on his face, razor-sharp teeth glinting in the photo's light. It was a monster. It was what I imagined Darren looked like on the inside, without his pretty boy charm disguising him on the surface.

"Relax, Andie," Danny said, still looking out the window. "We don't live where we used to anymore. We moved here after he was put away. There's no way he knows where we are. He can't get you, and he can't get me." He smiled at me before looking back to the window. "Why are there so many police cars outside?"

I turned toward him and dropped the remote to the floor. "Danny, get away from the window," I said quietly with an urgency I'd never before felt.

Danny laughed a little. "Andie, we're on the ninth floor. It's not like he can - "

Glass shattered. I think I screamed. Danny was shouting, and then he was gone, his body flung out the window and to the street below, nine floors down. And then there was Darren, standing inside the smashed window, his fingernails long and untrimmed and stained with red. He was hunched over like a feral animal ready to pounce. "Hello, Andie," he said, his voice much deeper than I remembered it being. "You look surprised. You should've known I'd be back for you."

I tried running, but he was so much quicker than me. One of his hands latched around my throat and he lifted me into the air, tilting his head to the side with a sadistic grin. "Where do you think you're going? I'm not finished with you yet."

I clawed at his hand, but he didn't budge. I could feel tears forming in the corners of my eyes. My lungs were about to explode from lack of air. "Darren, please," I choked out.

He laughed. It sounded robotic. "It's too late for begging, little girl. Continue to struggle and you're going to end up just like your little _boy toy -_ dead and bleeding with a broken body in the middle of the sidewalk for everyone to see." He lowered me down until his one eye was all I could see. "Now scream."

oOoOo

I screamed and ended up falling off the couch, causing my hip and my elbow to smash against the floor. My knee hit the coffee table on the way down. "Shit," I said, rubbing my knee. I paused. "What just happened?"

I sat up off the floor and looked around. The apartment was dark, except for the TV playing _The Big Bang Theory_ reruns. "Danny?" I called out softly.

Standing, I turned to the window. It was intact; there was no glass on the floor, and the curtains were partially shut. My legs were shaking as I went to go look out of it. Half of me was afraid of seeing Danny's crumpled body, but the other half didn't expect to see that at all. The latter half was correct; there was no sign that Darren had been in the apartment at all.

I laid a hand over my rapidly beating heart and took a deep breath. _Just a nightmare, Andie,_ I told myself. _Just another nightmare. Everything is fine._

What was I doing in the living room, though? Why wasn't I in bed? I glanced at the couch; there was a blanket lying on the floor like I'd kicked it off myself. Of course. Danny and I had come home from Merritt and Jack's, and he'd all but forced me to take a nap. I refused to go to the bed because I wanted to be near where he was, and so I fell asleep watching TV with him. Of course.

That didn't mean I couldn't go to bed now, though. I threw the blanket back on the couch and then made my way toward the bedroom, a little smile on my face. Danny had said he wanted to be woken up if I had another nightmare; that last one would definitely qualify. "Danny," I said in a whisper. There was no movement from the bed, though I could see his silhouette. "Danny? Wake up," I said a little louder.

There was still no response, which struck me as odd. He wasn't usually that heavy of a sleeper. I frowned and crossed over to the nightstand on his side of the bed and reached for the lamp, quickly flicking it on.

Blood. There was blood _everywhere_. Danny's blue eyes were wide open and staring at the ceiling, an empty expression on his face. His mouth was gaping open. There were cuts on either side of his lips like someone had made him into the Joker. His chest and abdomen had been ripped to shreds. I was two seconds from vomiting when I noticed the note sitting beside him. I was shaking so badly it was hard to pick it up. And there it was, everything I'd been fearing since Darren was put away.

 _I told you if he laid a finger on you, I'd kill him._

A scabby, scarred hand abruptly cut off my scream as I was yanked backward against someone's chest. Darren's lips were close enough to my ear that I could feel them brushing against me when he spoke. "You know I never lie, Andie."

oOoOo

"Andie!"

I clawed at the hands on my arms, screaming and crying and thrashing around to get free. "Let go of me, you _murderer_!" The hands held me tighter, trying to yank me into a seated position. "Don't touch me!"

"Andie, open your eyes."

I shook my head furiously, refusing to do so. I didn't want to see Danny's blood all over the sheets and his organs pulled straight out of his body. I couldn't look at his dead eyes for a second longer. "Don't touch me!" I shrieked, again thrashing my body to try and break my captor's hold. "You're a murderer! You killed him!"

I flipped over until I was on my side, successfully getting free of the hands on my arms. I pulled my knees up to my chest and threw my arms over my head, shielding myself from Darren's inevitable wrath. I'm not supposed to struggle; I knew it would only make things worse. But by that point I was too far gone. The tears were coming faster and harder than I'd ever experienced in my life. "You killed him," I said. My voice was much weaker than it'd been before. My resolve was gone; I was going to be murdered next. "Danny..." The sound closely resembled a wail.

Everything was quiet for a few moments. My racing heart beat was slowing down. It took much less time than I expected for me to realize that I had woken up.

I opened my eyes. Danny was on his hands and knees, hovering over me with the most concern I'd ever seen on his face before. It was a couple seconds before he noticed I was staring back at him. When he did, he spoke. "Are you okay?"

I opened my mouth and exhaled heavily, and then I burst into tears once more.

Danny sat back and slid his arms underneath me, gently lifting me into a seated position. Once there, he pulled me against his chest and held me tightly. "This was the worst one yet," he said quietly, tangling a hand in my hair. "You've never reacted like this before."

"I had to watch you die," I said, trying to choke back my sobs. I hated myself for being so weak. I wasn't supposed to cry. I was Andie White, for Christ's sake; I was a badass bitch, and I need to start behaving like one. It was a little hard to keep up that persona when I was constantly hiccupping and snotting all over Danny's shirt. "I had to watch you die. _Twice_."

"Darren?" I nodded. "It wasn't real, Andie."

I pulled away from him, sitting back against the pillows and laying my forehead on my bent knees. "I know it wasn't. But it _felt_ so real."

Danny shook his head a little. "You can't keep doing this to yourself. You're not getting any sleep, and that's not good for your body, Andie."

"I can't help it, _Danny_ ," I all but snapped at him. "God, I'm so sorry I like you enough to be worried about whether a psycho is going to break out of an institution and come _murder_ you." I hastily tried to wipe the constant stream of tears away. They kept coming. "Dammit..."

Danny was silent for a little while. I could feel him staring at me. We'd been sitting in silence for about ten minutes before he finally decided to speak. "I'm calling Dylan," he said, standing.

I was off the bed in less than a second, darting toward where he was on the other side of the room. I snatched the phone out of his hand and held it behind my back, my eyes wide with slight panic. "No!" I burst out. "Danny, you can't tell him. He's too busy right now. It wouldn't even matter anyway. The nightmares aren't going to stop."

"Andie, he needs to know."

I shook my head and backed away from his outstretched, expectant hand. "No, please. I'll figure out how to make the nightmares stop. I _promise_."

Danny stared at me, his gaze hard. He paused. "Fine. _Fine_. But the second you wake up screaming and crying from another nightmare, I'm calling Dylan. And you're not stopping me."

I threw Danny's phone onto the mattress and jumped on him, wrapping my arms around his neck and holding him tightly. "Thank you so much," I said, leaning into him. He caught me around the waist and squeezed me gently, his silent sign that he was there for me. I'd been on the receiving end of it more times than I could count, and I appreciated it every time. "You won't regret this. Just watch; I'll be good as new in no time."


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three (This chapter is pretty boring; brace yourself.)**

I hadn't slept in four days.

My solution for my sleeping problems maybe wasn't the most orthodox method, but it was working alright - just never sleep at all. No sleep, no nightmares. It was as simple as that. Danny was none the wiser about it; when he'd go to bed, I would lie there beside him and pretend to sleep until he drifted off, and then I'd get up and try and keep myself busy, downing several cups of coffee to keep me going. When it came time for him to wake up in the morning, I'd crawl back into bed and act like I'd been there the whole time.

He made a comment once about how much better I've been sleeping; I hadn't woken him up at all in those four days. That obviously means no nightmares, right? Well, he wasn't wrong. He wasn't totally right, either. I told him I was taking sleeping pills. The lie felt more like I was protecting him than deceiving him. I hated when he worried.

It was half past three in the morning. Danny had fallen asleep somewhere around eleven. I laid next to him until I was absolutely sure he was out, and then I got up. Now I was sitting on the couch with a large mug of black coffee in my hands and the TV turned on to the news, the volume muted and the subtitles on, so as not to wake my sleeping boyfriend.

I'd become obsessed with watching the news, ever since I'd had that nightmare about seeing Darren had escaped. Now I watched it constantly, waiting for the "Breaking News" headline to flash and an extremely grotesque photo of a man who once could have been considered mildly attractive to pop up. It hadn't happened yet. The rational side of my brain doubted that it ever would, but the other side, the sleep-deprived side, knew that anything was possible. Even things that shouldn't have been possible were still possible.

I wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and nestled further into the couch, falling onto my side. I took a large gulp of coffee to chase away the exhaustion that was slowly starting to creep up on me. I had caffeine pills on the corner of the coffee table, waiting for me in case the coffee wasn't working well enough. Hiding them from Danny was a chore, but a magician always has a few tricks up her sleeve.

Meaning: I literally kept the little bottle hidden in a pocket in my sleeve.

The news wasn't very interesting in the early hours of the morning, which was to be expected; hardly anyone was awake. There was some small story about a couple firemen getting a kitten unstuck from where it was trapped in a wall playing on the screen when a soft knock echoed in the quiet room.

I was on my feet immediately, my heart rate pounding in my ears. _Darren. It's Darren. He's come to kill Danny._ That was all I could think. My brain couldn't process anything else.

Slowly, I made my way to the door. I was unarmed; we didn't really have any weapons in the apartment, unless you counted kitchen knives. A deck of cards could do a decent amount of damage, but I couldn't throw them nearly as well as Jack could. _Maybe if I die, the nightmares will go away._

There was another knock, this one slightly louder than the first one. My hand hovered over the lock. "Andie," a voice whispered from the other side. "Open up. It's just me."

I unlocked the door and opened it inward. Dylan Rhodes was staring back at me, a small smile on his face. "Morning, Andie," he said politely. He inclined his head toward me. "May I come in?" I stepped away from the door. "Thanks."

"You're a magician. Couldn't you have just magicked your way in? I wouldn't have been surprised," I said, leading him toward where I'd been sitting before.

Dylan laughed. "I didn't think that would help your condition any." I raised an eyebrow at him from over my shoulder. His expression had turned grim. "Atlas said you're not sleeping well."

I shrugged. "I'm fine."

"Then why are you awake right now?"

I wasn't sure how to answer him in a way that wouldn't make it seem like I had a sleeping problem. The bags under my eyes were probably darker than his hair by this point (Was that lighter or darker than my soul? I'd have to ask Jack later...) and I knew he'd noticed them. "I heard you at the door and I woke up."

Dylan shook his head, a wan smile on his face. "Then why isn't Danny awake too?"

"He sleeps like the dead?" I knew I didn't sound convincing. We were both talking in whispers because the slightest noise would wake him up. He slept better than I did, but it was all too easy to snap him out of it. I knew it, Jack and Merritt knew it, and Dylan knew it, too.

"We both know that's not true."

I folded my arms across my chest. "I just woke up, Dylan. I don't have a problem."

He didn't saying anything for a little while; he just looked around the room. He took in the sight of the muted TV playing the news and my half-empty mug of coffee. He saw the blanket on the floor where it had fallen when I stood to answer the door. Unfortunately, he also saw the caffeine pills.

He rubbed his forehead with his hand and closed his eyes. "Adderall, Andie? _Really?_ " I was quiet. "Jesus. Don't have a problem, huh? Well, what I'm positive you _don't_ have is ADHD. Why do you even have these?"

I folded my arms across my chest and sat on the arm of the couch, crossing one leg over the other. "I haven't taken any, if that makes you feel any better."

"I don't feel good about any of this, but at least I don't have to worry about putting you through rehab for abusing medication you don't need."

I scowled. "How do you know I don't need them?" I said defensively.

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Because you don't have ADHD," he repeated. "You don't need them. So why do you have them?"

I slid backward until I was lying on my back on the couch, arms still across my chest. I stared at the ceiling. "They're just there for backup."

"Backup?"

"In case coffee doesn't work anymore."

Dylan gently pushed my feet off the arm of the couch and sat down. "What's your sudden aversion to sleeping, Andie?"

I shrugged, still watching the ceiling. "I am sleeping."

"No, you're not. Atlas wouldn't have called me if he wasn't worried about you. He said you've stopped sleeping entirely."

I tried not to seem surprised. My plan had failed, then; Danny had noticed that I was trying everything to not fall asleep. I thought he'd been asleep every time I was awake, but apparently he wasn't. "Why didn't he say anything?" I said. My eyes never left the ceiling. I was trying to count the number of cracks I saw, but quickly lost count. Focusing was becoming harder as of late.

Dylan's tone was one of pity. "He didn't want to upset you by confronting you about it. He stays awake all night, you know." I finally looked at the man sitting beside me, a silent request for him to go on. "He said he's waiting for when you finally fall asleep and have another nightmare."

"So he can say he told me so."

"So he can help you, Andie," Dylan said, shaking his head. "Haven't you noticed how tired he's been? He could hardly talk when he called me tonight."

I instantly felt bad because, no, I hadn't noticed. I was oblivious to everything happening around me during the day due to the amount of fatigue I was feeling. I couldn't focus on anything other than my own problems, and it'd led to me not noticing when my own boyfriend was doing the same just to keep an eye on me. "I'm such a bad person," I said, covering my eyes with one hand.

Dylan sighed. "No, I don't think that's true. You're just not thinking straight right now."

"Is he awake? Should I go apologize?"

I sat up and made to get off the couch, but Dylan set a hand on my shoulder to sit me back down. "He's asleep. Or he should be, anyway." He smiled a little. "He wanted to stay up, but I told him I would keep an eye on you tonight so he could get some rest."

I narrowed my eyes. "You're not going to make me sleep, are you? Because that's not gonna fly."

Dylan set a hand on my head and ruffled my hair, the corners of his eyes crinkling when he smiled again, this time a little wider. "No, I'm not going to make you sleep." He stood up and held out his hand to me, that same kind smile on his face. "Come on. Let's go for a walk."

I raised an eyebrow. "You want to go for a walk - at four in the morning - in this sketchy-ass part of New York City? Right. That's not gonna lead to us getting mugged at all."

Now he grinned. "You seem to forget that I work for the FBI."

I stared at him for a moment longer before taking his hand with a small smile. "Okay, fine. Let's go for a walk." I glanced toward the closed bedroom door, my brows instantly furrowing. "Should I tell Danny where I'm going? Or leave a note at least?"

"We'll be back before he wakes up," Dylan said. He squeezed my hand and then dropped it. "Don't worry. He knows you're in good hands. Now come on."

He went to wait by the front door while I shut off the TV and set my now-empty coffee mug in the sink. When I returned, he opened the door and allowed me to walk through before shutting it behind us. I locked it quickly and then followed him down the hall, down the stairs, and then out onto the street.

The street lamps overhead were the only things that lit the way for us as we walked down the sidewalk, our hands shoved in our pockets and no words spoken between us. I wasn't sure where we were going; I was just following Dylan. He would look at me out of the side of his eye from time to time, like he was checking to make sure I wasn't going to fall over from exhaustion. I wasn't going to; I had enough caffeine in my system to keep me awake for at least another hour. Chances were pretty high that I'd still need to have more coffee once I got back to the apartment, though.

"Are you going to tell me what your nightmares are about?" Dylan asked, finally breaking the comfortable silence we'd been walking in.

I turned my face toward him, taking care to not trip as I walked. "Did Danny not tell you?"

"He just said it was like PTSD."

I shrugged and looked down at my shoes. "I mean, I guess." I was quiet for a little while before I spoke again. "They're about a lot of stuff. Mostly Darren. His threats and stuff..." I trailed off, clearing my throat and hugging my arms to my body.

Dylan didn't press the matter any further. We walked in silence for a while longer before he broke the silence once more. "How much do you know about me, Andie?"

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. It wasn't a question I was expecting. "Um, you work for the FBI but you're also a part of the Eye and just use your FBI job as a cover up so you can stop them from finding me and Danny and the others..." I trailed off again and shook my head. "I really don't know a lot. Sorry, I've never asked."

Dylan laughed a little. "No, it's fine." He ran a hand through his hair. "My father was a magician. That's how I got into it."

"Really?"

He nodded. "Lionel Shrike. He - "

I grabbed his arm and dragged him to a stop. "Wait, you can't just drop a bomb on me like that and then keep going." He was grinning and so was I. " _Lionel Shrike_. Like, _the_ Lionel Shrike? The one that got - "

"Locked in a safe and dropped to the bottom of the river, only for the safe to warp and he drowned?" We had stopped walking down. Dylan had his hands in his pockets again and was facing me, his eyes searching my face for I don't know what. I felt like I should have been sweating; I wasn't expecting the conversation to take a turn like that. Yes, I knew what had happened to Lionel Shrike, but I hadn't expected him to speak about it so blatantly.

He was still looking at me. "I'm sorry," I finally said.

He smiled. "I've had years and years to get over it, Andie. Don't worry about it." He squeezed one of my shoulders with that same easy smile. "It doesn't hurt to talk about it anymore."

The corners of my mouth lifted a little. "Okay."

"He's the reason I know you and the others now, you know." I tilted my head a little. "Tressler Insurance denied my mother's claim after my father died and the French bank you robbed in the first show was the one that carried the note."

I nodded. "Okay, but what about Thaddeus Bradley? Was there a reason you told us to put all of the stolen money in his car?"

Dylan started to walk and I followed along after him, waiting for my answer. He didn't withhold it for very long. When he spoke, his voice was bitter. "Thaddeus Bradley was there on the day my father drowned. He was also the reason my father felt the need to make some huge comeback, to prove to Bradley and the rest of the world that his magic was real." Dylan swallowed. The sound was loud enough for me to hear. "I can still remember it, Andie. Sitting there on the dock, counting out the seconds until he would come back up on my watch. And there was Bradley, across the water with his TV crew, filming and narrating the whole thing."

I reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder; Dylan glanced at it but didn't stop walking. "Five minutes were up and he still hadn't surfaced. I was a kid; I panicked. I remember people in the crowd holding me back and the rescue team trying to recover the safe and save him." He cleared his throat. "Really, though, I remember Bradley's face. He was shocked. I didn't imagine he'd be shocked. I assumed he thought my father would fail in his comeback and he would be smug in how correct he was. But he was shocked instead."

"So you decided to become a magician and ruin the people who had ruined your family?"

Dylan nodded and looked out at the darkened streets. "It took years of planning. I was worried it wouldn't work, but it did." He then looked at me and smiled. "Thank you."

I smiled back. "Thank you for bringing us all together. I've had the time of my life being a Horseman. Much more than when I was a solo act."

He laughed a little. "You know what?" I hummed and shook my head. "The night I gave you your tarot card, I was only planning on having four Horsemen. I was on my way over to give Atlas the fourth card when I saw you."

I shook my head again. "My trick was nowhere near as good as Danny's. Why'd you choose me at all?"

He gave me a side hug for no more than a second and then dropped his arm back to his side. "Oh, don't be like that. Your trick with the flash paper was great." He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "I picked you for your attitude more than your talent - which you have plenty of, don't get me wrong. You reminded me of myself."

I snorted. "How? I'm trash."

"I am too, then," Dylan said with a laugh. "I could see the same fire that I had when I would perform magic when I saw you." He winked at me. "You were headstrong with a take-no-shit philosophy, and I thought that would come in handy when it came to dealing with Daniel Atlas."

We crossed to the other side of the street and continued walking in the same direction. "Good choice. I've put him in his place more than a few times," I said. "There's no getting out of line around me." I chuckled. "Unless I'm the one getting out of hand, anyway."

We both laughed for a little while before going silent and just taking in the night air. The sky was clear of clouds, allowing us to fully see the blanket of stars shining within the darkness. There was a slight breeze blowing through the city. This part of NYC was quiet, and there was hardly another soul in sight. Every now and again I would spot someone hurrying along the sidewalk across the street, presumably running home before they had the chance to be mugged. I had been worried about it at the start, but I was with Dylan. Nothing bad would happen while Dylan was around.

"Thank you for changing your mind and taking on a fifth Horseman," I said after a while, giving Dylan a soft smile. "Hope you haven't regretted it."

He mirrored my expression and set a hand on my shoulder. "Never for a moment have I regretted it, Andie."

Suddenly bashful, I looked down at my shoes. The toes were scuffed and the soles were starting to wear away from wearing them too often. They'd been in my possession since I lived in Nebraska. Toward the end of my time there, anyway.

I hadn't thought about Nebraska in a long time. Obviously it came to mind for a while after my interrogation with the FBI, but I'd forgotten about my family and former home again without much effort on my part. My dead sister was really the only thing that came to mind, but even that was starting to become rare.

"Why didn't you mention my sister when you were going through my family history?" I asked suddenly. Dylan raised an eyebrow. "I mean, she was really the reason I'm a magician now, and the reason I'm in New York and not Nebraska."

The FBI agent dropped his hand from my shoulder and shrugged a little. "I knew all of that. Most of it was just inferences I made from reading your file, anyway. I figured Scarlett was a sensitive subject and not something that I should bring up in an interrogation, especially when you already hated me."

I smiled a bit. "Well, I don't hate you now."

Dylan returned the gesture. "Hey, thanks. I appreciate that."

"And I appreciate you not bringing her up." He inclined his head toward me; I went on. "But I don't think I would have killed you or anything. I can talk about Scarlett just fine now. It's been a long time since she died, and she died happy, so there's not much I can be upset about."

"Have you ever thought to call your family?"

I nearly choked on my saliva. "Excuse me? Hell no. I'm not going back to them. I'm my own person when I'm in New York."

Dylan shrugged. "Yes, but I'm sure they'd like to know that their daughter is alive and well. For all they know, you may be dead."

"Or a fugitive, which would be even worse." I rolled my eyes. "Why did you bring me out here, Dylan? To talk about reconnecting me with my family?"

He shook his head quickly. "No, no. That was a thought that came to me just now." The corners of his lips twitched like he wanted to smile, but he never fully did. "I brought you out here so Danny could get some sleep and you could have someone to talk to while you're refusing to sleep."

"I've been doing okay by myself."

Dylan stopped walking and looked down at me, a slight frown on his face. "Everyone needs a friend sometimes. And since you're turning down help from the other three, I figured I should step in." His eyes were stern. "You can stop yourself from sleeping for as long as you want, but I can make sure you're not stressing yourself out from watching the news all night and waiting for the apocalypse to happen."

I looked away and glared at the building we were standing in front of. It was a shop of some description, closed down for the night. The windows were dark, so I couldn't see inside and figure out what kind of store it actually was. "I'm not waiting for the apocalypse," I said, staring at my reflection in the glass. "I'm waiting for Darren."

"Darren's been locked away. I saw to it."

"I know, but I still think about it." I cleared my throat and looked down at my worn out shoes again. "I can't get it out of my head. All of the threats - "

"Were just empty threats," Dylan said, cutting me off. "He would never have been able to kill Danny. I had eyes on you five at all times so someone could be there at a moment's notice to step in if any of you were put into harm's way. He never would have been able to kill Danny - or any of you - before I put a stop to it. And he's not going to get you now."

Dylan came up behind me and set a hand on my shoulder again. We were both quiet again, staring at our reflections standing side-by-side. It was comforting, having Dylan nearby. Maybe it was because he was a trained and dangerous FBI agent and magician; he could protect me from pretty much anything that would come my way. But I likened it more to being in the presence of a friend, someone who would look out for me when I didn't think I needed it.

"You guys are my responsibility; you have been from the moment you received your tarot cards. As long as I'm around, you're not going to have anything to worry about." He squeezed my shoulder. "Not the FBI, not Interpol, and especially not Darren."

I couldn't put into words how I was feeling after hearing that. All I could do was look up and smile, my first genuine smile in four days. "Thank you."

He smiled back and slung his arm around me, giving me another short side hug. I laughed a little and so did he. "Of course. You don't have to worry anymore. I promise."


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Danny was getting restless.

The incessant hovering over me during the day and losing sleep at night was beginning to subside since I began going on walks with Dylan, at least. I came home from those long walks absolutely exhausted, and it didn't take long for me to start sleeping through the night without waking up twenty million times - only three or four times. But that hardly did anything to pacify Danny, who remained glued to my side all hours of the day.

And when he wasn't worrying about me, he was working himself up over the Eye.

He had promised me weeks ago that he would stop stressing himself out over when we were going to get a mission from the Eye. Dylan's lack of answers weren't doing anything to calm him down. I had heard Danny on the phone several times, making calls to unknown sources in the early hours of the morning. Little did he know that I was still awake and could hear every word he was saying. I was getting better at sleeping, but I wasn't that great yet. But I guess he didn't know that.

He was pacing the floor again one morning, his hands clasped behind his back. I was seated on the couch with a mug full of coffee, trying to watch the news. I didn't have the nightmare about Darren escaping the mental ward anymore, but I still watched news broadcasts like a hawk, waiting to see anything amiss. It was hard to do so that morning, however, as Danny would not stop walking back and forth in front of the screen.

"Danny, you're doing it again," I said lazily, craning my neck to see around him. "Why don't you sit down for a bit?"

"I'm just so frustrated," he said harshly. I knew the anger wasn't directed at me; he'd gotten a lot better at not bottling up his emotions and instead let me know what he was feeling at any given moment. His little outburts were becoming an almost daily occurrance anymore.

I laid my head on my arm and took a sip of my coffee. It burnt my tongue, still a little too hot to drink. "I understand that you're frustrated, Danny, but you're going to wear a hole in the floor if you don't cut it out." He stopped pacing in favor of staring at me, one hand on his hip and the other on the back of his neck. Two seconds later he had collapsed on the couch beside me, sighing heavily. "See? Isn't that better?"

He paused for a moment, his lips pursed. "No," he said. He stood back up and resumed pacing, his hands interlocked against the back of his head.

"Danny, come on," I groaned.

He shook his head vigorously. "I'm going to get answers, Andie. I swear I am. I'm so sick of just sitting around here doing nothing. I'm going to go stir crazy. I really am."

I rolled my eyes. "You're going to be just fine. Let Dylan do his thing; he'll let us know when it's time to go on a real assignment."

Danny narrowed his eyes at me. "I appreciate that Dylan has been helping you out with your anxiety and your nightmares, but I still don't think you should be as okay with this long-ass wait as you are." I glared at him. "Oh, don't look at me like that. Have you tried asking him what's taking so long?"

"No, because I'm not nearly as bothered by it as you are."

Danny made a small noise of irritation. "I just want to know what we've been preparing so long for. We've been practicing for a show we have no idea about. I just want to know what we should be expecting to happen, and when."

"It'll happen, Danny," I said. "You've just got to give it time."

He shook his head slowly. "I don't know how much more time I can stand to wait." I looked up at him, alarmed. "I'm not deserting," he said quickly. "But I'm going to get answers, whether Dylan wants me to or not."

I rolled my eyes. Sure, of course he was going to. "Can you at least move out from in front of the TV?" He nodded slightly and walked behind the couch, carrying on his pacing behind me. "Thank you." He hummed.

oOoOo

I woke up sometime around six the following morning. Groaning, I rolled onto my side to face Danny. I didn't intend to wake up so early; I'm more of a get-out-of-bed-at-one-in-the-afternoon kind of person. I threw out an arm to grab Danny and pull myself closer to his warmth, but my arm fell heavily onto the cold mattress. I sat up quickly, looking around in alarm. Danny does not get out of bed early. Danny stays in bed until I finally kick him out.

There was the sound of a hushed voice from the living room. I got out of bed quickly and padded over to the door, pressing my ear to the slight opening. It was Danny, and I assumed he was on the phone. "Yes, I'll be there," he was saying.

 _Be where?_ I heard Danny hang up the phone and start back toward the bedroom. I darted back to the bed and jumped back onto the mattress, flipping over and pretending to be asleep. The door opened seconds later, spreading light across my face from the living room. I heard him walk over to my side of the bed. He stooped and pressed a kiss to the top of my head before standing upright again and walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as the door was shut, I shot out of bed and stripped out of my pajamas. I hastily tugged on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, laced up my boots, and then went back to the door. Danny could be heard at the front door, undoing the lock before stepping out into the hall and heading down the stairs. Once he was gone, I crept out after him.

I grabbed the apartment keys from the table beside the door and headed out, locking the door behind me. I went down the stairs as quietly as I could, hanging back as needed until Danny was out of the apartment building and onto the early morning street. I don't know what was making me follow him, but I was determined to not let him out of my sight. It was my turn to be overprotective. He wasn't going to do anything stupid on my watch.

The sun still had yet to peek out from the darkness of the night as I trailed behind Danny, all the way to one of the abandoned subway stations that call New York City their home. He went rapidly down the stairs, not once glancing over his shoulder. I was safe and out of sight, even as we went down onto the subway tracks.

Danny took a sharp turn and I followed a few yards behind as he went down another set of stairs. The walls were dark and made of stone, and there was very little light to be had within the tunnels. There was water all over the floor here as well. He splashed straight through all of it; I went more slowly, trying my best not to make a sound. Occasionally I would see him shine the flashlight he'd brought with on a corner of the wall, but as I hadn't thought to bring a flashlight, I couldn't see what he was looking at.

And then he stopped abruptly. I skidded to a halt, catching myself before I could stumble and make noise. There was a door at the end of the hall that swung open as Danny reached it. I rushed forward as he stepped inside, trying to get in before he shut the door. But it shut all on its own, cutting me off just as I approached it. I got a glimpse of Danny's back and a large pedestal in the center of the room before the door slammed shut, the noise echoing in the otherwise empty tunnels. I smacked the heavy door in frustration, ignoring the stinging in my hand when I did so.

"Welcome, Daniel Atlas." There was someone inside with him. I hadn't seen them when the door was open, but that voice was definitely not Danny's; it was too deep. And why would he be talking to himself, anyway?

Then I heard Danny. "Who am I speaking to? I asked to see the face behind all of this." So there was no one else in the room after all? Not being able to see inside was annoying, and it was killing me that I couldn't get the door open myself. There was no handle.

"You've asked many questions. And registered many complaints." I snorted - if it really is someone from the Eye that he's talking to, no doubt he's bombarded them with a million complaints. "You can rest assured that we've heard you."

"Have you?" Danny asked. "Because I don't - "

The voice cut him off. "Trust?"

Danny's voice was sharp. "No."

"Your leader? Your fellow Horsemen? Perhaps even us?"

I frowned and folded my arms across my chest. It was no news to me that Danny was having a hard time trusting the Eye and Dylan, but to not trust Jack or Merritt? Or me? I didn't want to believe he didn't trust me; he had always told me everything before. He was going to have a lot of questions to answer for me whenever he decided to get his sorry ass out of that room.

Danny sounded angry when he spoke again. "I don't like that we've been living in hiding for a year. I don't like that every message I get from Dylan is, 'Wait. Be patient. The Eye has a plan.'" I knew as much about that. He never ceased bitching about that phrase.

And, bless that voice, the Eye was having done of Danny's bullshit. "Wait. Be patient. The Eye has a plan," the voice said.

I could practically feel Danny's frustration through the door separating us. "This is games and it's not working for me," he snapped. I could hear shuffling and then footsteps. He was heading for the door; he was going to leave.

"You feel it is you who should be leading the Horsemen, not Dylan." The footsteps stopped. I drew closer to the door, enough that the front of my sweatshirt was almost touching the metal's grimy surface. "If that is what you desire, stay the course. Trust that your unique talents and remarkable mind will not go unrecognized. We have a new mission for the Horsemen. Dylan has a plan and will gather you together soon."

The door flung open. Danny whipped around. His eyes widened immensely when he saw me standing there. The voice that had been speaking was warped almost beyond recognition when it spoke again. "Now leave!"

Danny rushed out of the room, arms up like he was about to hug me. I held a hand up and pressed it against his chest before he could, shoving him to a stop. "You promised me you would stop stressing out about the Eye, Danny," I said, glaring at him.

I hadn't felt angry when I was following him here, but after hearing the voice in the room talking about how Danny wanted to take over as the leader, I couldn't help the moderate amounts of rage that were starting to fill me up. Dylan was the leader; we had all accepted it once we found out that he was the man behind all three shows we performed the year before. Apparently Danny didn't think Dylan was leading us properly; personally, I didn't think Danny could do a better job. Not that I would ever tell him so.

"Andie," he said slowly, holding up his hands like he thought that would pacify me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lie to you. It's just that nothing has been happening and I'm getting fed up with it. I want to actually _do_ something, not just practice for some unknown show. I want to get back out and perform _now_."

I folded my arms across my chest. My glare became much more heated. "You're such a child sometimes. You can't control everyone all the time, especially not the Horsemen. You want to be the leader? Good luck getting the rest of us on your side."

"What do you mean, 'us?'" Danny asked. "You're not on my side?"

I looked down so I couldn't see the semi-hurt expression on his face. "Dylan is doing everything he can to get us back on stage as soon as possible. And he's helped me a lot in the last few weeks. I feel like we owe him a lot more confidence and trust than he's receiving."

Danny shook his head. "I don't believe this."

"Says the one who outright lied to me," I shot back, my angry expression returning. "Is that what this relationship is about now? Lying? Glad I'm all caught up now."

Danny tried to take my hand but I drew it away from him. "Andie, come on. I didn't mean to lie. I just didn't want to bother you with my worrying."

"You've done nothing _but_ worry since we went into hiding." I turned on my heel and went back the way we'd come, not caring about the loud splashing sounds I was making anymore. "You just didn't want me to find out that you were planning on coming here and taking over as the leader of the Horsemen."

Danny followed after me. "Andie, please - "

"I'm going to get a coffee," I said over my shoulder. "Go home, Danny. And good luck getting in without the key." With that, I jogged up the stairs and left him standing alone at the bottom, feeling an uneasy flipping of my stomach. What had he just gotten us into?


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

~Danny~

I stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched Andie jog her way up to the top. She was fuming; that much was clear. I'd lied to her, and now I was paying for it. It was going to take a lot for me to win her over again. Forgiveness wasn't one of her strong suits.

I wait for somewhere close to fifteen minutes before trudging up the steps after her. She would be long gone, off to get coffee like she'd said. As much as I'd lied to her, I knew she would never lie to me. Not since we'd gotten together, anyway. I wasn't so sure about when we both kind of hated each other.

My footsteps echoed in the underground tunnel as I made my way back out onto the abandoned subway tracks. I don't know what I was thinking, sneaking out of the apartment while she was asleep and chatting with someone from the Eye about getting back onstage again. I did want to become the leader of the Horsemen. The person wasn't wrong. Andie wasn't wrong either when she accused me of it. I knew I could be a better leader than Dylan, if only the group would give me the chance to prove myself. If only _Andie_ would give me the chance.

It stung, knowing that she didn't support me. Weren't relationships supposed to be about supporting your person? I had been helpful and caring while she was having those hellish nightmares, and did everything I could to make sure she was okay. So where was my support in turn? Did I not deserve it?

 _You're being selfish_.

I sighed. I couldn't be a selfish boyfriend. Not with her. Her nightmares were about me dying; she'd told me so. She cared. I never had to question it. It would be unfair of me to expect her to go against her personal beliefs and support something she so clearly wasn't comfortable with.

I sighed again, having finally reached the sidewalk outside the abandoned subway station. Gone to get coffee. I didn't know when she would be home, but I wanted to be there before her. Not that I could get inside the apartment, anyway; she must have taken the key with her. I could sit outside the door and wait for her, silently trying to come up with anything I could possibly say to make her happy again.

Or I could get her lunch. It was nearly eleven at that point, and she was bound to be hungry. Unless she planned on getting something to eat while she was getting her coffee, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Or at least sorrier than I already was. I would make it up to her. Food wasn't going to get her to warm back up to me right away, but it would be a start at least.

oOoOo

It was around an hour later when I made it back to the apartment. My boots clunked against the wooden stairs as I traipsed up them, holding a bag of fast food in one hand while the other gripped a drink. I still had no idea how long it would be before Andie got back, if she was planning on coming back at all today. I was fully intent on sitting outside the apartment door, waiting for her to come home and unlock it, but when I reached the top of the stairs, I saw the door was already partially cracked open.

 _Andie wouldn't leave the door open. Especially not with as paranoid as she's been lately._ I tilted my head as I headed toward the door, immediately becoming suspicious. A peace offering, to let me know she's home? It didn't seem likely.

I opened the door fully, instantly spotting a young woman sprawled across my couch. She had dark hair and a huge grin on her face - not exactly something you want to see after an already long day. It certainly wasn't Andie.

"Oh, hi!" she said, waving a little.

I narrowed my eyes. "Who are you? What are you doing in my - "

She abruptly cut me off. "It's actually a funny story."

 _Likely_. "How did you get into my apartment?" I asked, starting to walk into the room. As soon as I took a step, my shin hit what I assumed to be a tripwire. The cord snapped. "Whoa."

The woman kept rambling, probably feigning not noticing that I had tripped the wire and set off the little trick she'd so clearly set up upon arriving here. How long had she even _been_ here? "I think it's funny. It's not like funny 'ha ha.' Or you might not think that it's funny 'ha ha.' I think it's funny. It's all kind of relative."

At this point, I was hardly focused on the ball rolling across a track near the ceiling. I was only vaguely curious as to what was about to happen once it reached the end. Really, I just wanted to know what the hell she was doing here in the first place. But she kept right on talking, not really getting to the point at all.

"I was actually... No, that's not... I made myself in the neighborhood and now I'm here, and maybe - "

At that moment, a huge blade, looking like a makeshift guillotine, came gliding down from the ceiling and chopped her head off at the shoulders.

I rolled my eyes. _Amateur_. Walking around the couch, I headed for the kitchen. "Okay. Seriously, h-how did you get in here? Are you some kind of crazed fan or something?" I set the bag of food down on the table, realization suddenly dawning on me. "Oh, my God. No, no, no, I recognize you. You did that - you did that B-grade 'geek magic' thing didn't you? You pulled a - "

"Pulled a hat out of the rabbit" came the woman's voice from inside my couch.

I smirked. "A hat out of the rabbit, that's right."

"I know that it didn't work."

I set the drink down next and then went back toward the couch. "No, it was actually kind of disgusting."

"It was way worse for the rabbit."

I could only imagine. Grabbing onto the shirt of the body shell left lying on the couch, I pulled it back, shaking it a little. It's arms wiggled back and forth. I dropped it down again. "Well, your drop was obvious and your body shell is flimsy." I gripped the couch cushion beneath the shell and lifted it, expecting to find her lying beneath. "So if you wouldn't mind crawling out from under my couch and - " The couch was empty.

I turned my head at the sound of slurping. There she was, across the room at the table, nonchalantly drinking the beverage I'd gotten for Andie. "Ta-da! Now I'm sitting over here. Crazy!" she said, waving her hands for effect. "By the way, that rabbit thing? That was like eight years ago, okay? I've gotten so much better since then."

I stalked over, snatched the drink from her hands, took a sip, and then set it back with the bag of food. Retreating further into the kitchen, I pulled out a line of rope from our junk drawer, which was mostly full of decks of cards and broken gag jokes. "Have you?"

"Yeah," she said, still in the kitchen chair.

I rolled my eyes again. "Okay, come here." I walked in front of her, rope still in my hands. She put her wrists together and held her own hands out toward, almost smugly, as I started tying them up. I was going for a trucker's hitch. "What is it that you want?" I asked, trying to finally get her to confess to whatever the hell it was that she was doing here.

She started talking immediately, rambling on again. "I wanted to meet you. Everybody, really. I want to be part of the Eye, okay? I said it. I do. And I want to use my magic for good, like you and Merritt and - " She shrugged a little. " - Jack, especially. Oh, that's right. I know that Jack is alive. I know that he faked his own death. I am a huge fan of faking deaths. That was crazy!"

I tightened the knot and stepped back, trying to pretend like her knowing Jack Wilder is really alive didn't bother me. If she knew, then how many other amateurs knew? Our trick was executed perfectly. No one was supposed to find out. And her, join the Eye? Not likely. I couldn't wait to tell Andie about the nutcase who wandered into our apartment. Hopefully the woman would be taken care of by then. I still wasn't sure when Andie was coming home.

The woman glanced down at the knot. "What is this? A trucker's hitch?"

"Yeah."

She almost laughed. "It's terrible." In seconds, the knot was untied. "Embarrassing." She handed the rope back to me, a cheeky smile on her face. _Try again_ , the look said.

I sighed quietly. "Okay," I said, moving to stand behind her. She put her hands behind the chair, again willingly letting me tie her up. Once she was secured, I could call Dylan and have him sort this mess out.

"By the way, I am so sorry that Henley left you." My hand jerked, involuntarily tightening the knot to the point of probably being too tight. "Ow, God!"

Once again, I rolled my eyes. They were bound to fall out of my head at this point. "Sorry," I said, only loosening it a little.

She was entirely unfazed. "That's actually a little better. You know what I heard? About Henley?"

I could only imagine. Frankly, I didn't really care to know. Henley had left, and that was that. "What?"

"I heard that she got tired of waiting around. She lost faith, and so she asked for an out, and the Eye gave it to her. But who knows, right? In matters of the heart, so difficult to tell. I mean, maybe she got sick of you." I scowled. "You ever think about that? Control issues? Maybe you just didn't tie her up tight enough."

"Or maybe she left for reasons entirely separate from Danny."

I again tightened the knot too tight, making the woman yelp, but I didn't care. Andie was standing in the doorway, looking confused but mostly annoyed. I stepped away from the woman in the chair and walked toward my girlfriend, suddenly feeling relieved. "Hey, you're home."

Her gaze was still fixated on the intruder. "Wishing that I wasn't, Atlas?" she said coldly.

I flinched. She wasn't actually accusing me of cheating, was she? Obviously she had to know that there was no way in hell I would ever do that to her. But the woman tied to a chair in our kitchen _did_ appear pretty suspicious, I supposed. "She broke in while we were out," I said quickly, turning to glare at the stranger.

Due to her hands being tied behind her back, she couldn't wave. Instead, she wiggled her head from side to side with a smile on her face. "You're Andie White!" she said. "Wow, I had _no idea_ you two were a thing. That's so crazy! I never would've pictured you two together. Really, I had no idea. But, super cool! Hey, good for you guys! Even though it does kind of boggle the mind a little bit. I was always a Henley fan - "

"Yeah, that's great," Andie said sarcastically, cutting in. "What do you think you're doing, breaking in here?"

The woman repeated everything she'd told to me, though she spared a lot of the rambling and got straight to the point when she saw Andie's no-nonsense expression. I had hoped she'd have calmed down by the time she got home, but apparently she hadn't. Note to self.

"Great story," Andie said, sounding like it was the least interesting tale she'd ever heard. "I'm sure everyone would _love_ to hear it." And then she turned to me, the heat of her glare finally lessening. "Now what do we do?"

I smiled a little and squeezed her shoulder before heading to the kitchen where I'd left my phone, Andie following closely behind me. To the woman, I said, "Here's what's going to happen. Uh, you're going to stay here and stop talking, and I'm going to make a phone call, and in about fine minutes, some people are going - "

"Danny." I turned toward Andie, curious as to why she'd interrupted. "She's gone."

I nearly snapped my neck whipping my head around to look at the chair. The rope was lying neatly on the seat, the woman nowhere to be found. I sighed, and so did Andie. "Now what?"

At the same time, our phones buzzed. Dylan.


	7. Chapter Six

****Chapter Six****

~Andie~

"We're supposed to meet up with Dylan and the guys," Danny said, skimming the text message. "Same place as usual, I'm assuming. He doesn't mention otherwise." I hummed in response, reading the message off my own phone. "Um, I bought you lunch."

"I saw that," I said flatly, sliding my phone into my back pocket. Fortunately for Danny, angry as I was at him, I was also starting to get really hungry. I crossed over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a few fries out of the takeout bag. "Don't think that you're attempt at bribing me with food is going to make me forget what happened this morning."

His voice was quiet. "I didn't think that," he said. But his tone very clearly suggested that he had at least _hoped_ that it would. "What do you think we should do about that woman? Should we let the others know?"

I shrugged and pulled out the cheeseburger that was waiting at the bottom of the bag for me. I ate half of it before bothering to respond to Danny's question. "Probably. I doubt she meant any real harm, but she knows a lot more about us than she should."

"Think Dylan will be able to do something about her? He's still in with the FBI."

I glanced up at Danny, and his expression changed from curious to slightly nervous. "I'm surprised you'd want to bring him into this at all." My tone was biting, and he flinched. I only felt a little bad about it.

I finished the rest of the food quickly, occasionally letting Danny have a few fries for himself. Tossing the empty bag into the garbage, I brushed excess salt off on my jeans and motioned with my head toward the door. "We should get going. But we're not done with this conversation."

"I know."

I followed Danny out the door as he swiped the keys to his motorcycle from where they hung on the wall. We locked - and double-checked that we locked - the door behind us, hoping no other crazy wannabe magicians would be attempting to break in while we were out. I knew I had locked the door behind me this morning in my journey to figure out what Danny was up to; the woman from before must've been really good at picking locks. I smirked. Jack would be interested in hearing about that, for sure.

oOoOo

Danny directed the motorcycle around another sharp turn, causing the few loose strands of my hair to whip against the lower half of my face. Up ahead of us I could see Jack and Merritt talking, Jack appearing to be teaching the older man how to throw playing cards efficiently. When they saw Danny and I approaching, they stopped what they were doing and waved. They were saying something quietly to each other, but I couldn't hear what it was. Honestly, I didn't need to.

Jack approached Danny quickly as we walked over, holding his hand out to shake. "Danny, what's up man?"

Danny rolled his eyes at me and placed his hand in Jack's. I stifled a laugh and hung back. Merritt sidled up beside me with a deck of cards. "Hey," Danny said.

Jack immediately whipped Danny's hand upward toward his face and began speaking rapidly. "Stare at the palm of your hand and as your eyes change focus, you will begin to notice - "

"Everything, because I'm not hypnotized. It's not working." Danny ripped his hand away from Jack and dropped it back to his side. He glanced over his shoulder at Merritt and me, spying the mentalist beginning to attempt to throw a playing card. He turned back to Jack and indicated toward Merritt. "Please don't become him."

The four of us began walking toward the building we usually held meetings in. It was your standard run of the mill sketchy abandoned building used for nothing but trouble. Danny's shoulders were tense; mad at him as I was, I wasn't blind to his apparent frustration. The woman from before must've really gotten to him. That or I was finally starting to upset him. "I didn't know you guys did party tricks when there weren't floozies around to impress," he said coldly.

I snorted. Merritt glanced toward me with a cheeky grin on his face. "Uh, I think we stopped trying to impress floozies in, like, 1937," he said. Jack was snickering.

"Okay, somebody broke into my - " I cleared my throat. Danny's ears turned red. " - _our_ apartment, alright? Some amateur who knew everything about me, everything about Henley leaving, and everything about us." We all rounded the corner to the platform overlooking the floor below us. Danny stopped at the railing, suddenly seeming defeated. "That's her."

I came to a halt at his shoulder, following his gaze down to where Dylan was standing with the woman from earlier. She was seated on the table, an excited smile on her face. "Hey!" she called up to us, waving.

"Hi," Danny said, very unenthusiastically. He slumped forward against the railing, eyes flicking toward Dylan's face.

Dylan smirked and motioned toward the woman. "You met Lula."

"I've met her," Danny said, his tone icy. "What is she doing here?"

"Lula" didn't give Dylan a chance to respond. "I'm the new Horseman! I'm the girl Horseman." She cheered loudly, throwing her hands up in the air. "Yeah!"

My eyes narrowed, and I looked toward where Jack and Merritt were standing just behind Danny and me. "What does that make me?" I muttered to them.

Merritt patted my shoulder. "The _woman_ Horseman," he said back just as quietly. Jack nodded in agreement.

Lula was still cheering for herself, but when she noticed the lack of enthusiasm from the rest of us, she quieted down, clearly disappointed. "Nobody. No excitement. Jack? Anything?" Jack seemed taken aback at being addressed, but he said nothing.

Merritt moved toward the stairs and the rest of us followed after him. "Dylan, tell me what's going on here," he said, reaching the bottom of the steps.

Dylan shifted his weight from one foot to the other, arms folded across his chest. "Well, Lula's been on the underground scene for the last decade, and I think she has some real talent, and I'd like to try her on stage to balance out the trio."

Jack bristled. "What?" he snapped. "No, are you serious, man? After Henley left, you said I could get back on stage again." He came to a stop in front of Dylan, shooting an accusatory glance at Lula. "Not someone who just showed up."

Danny, Merritt, and I joined in crowding around the table, myself wedged in between the two men. I watched Dylan rest a hand on Jack's shoulder, a solemn look on his face. "I told you I'd think about it, and I have, and I really need you behind the scenes with me for a little while longer."

"Dylan, come on. I've been behind the scenes my whole life," Jack said, a wry smile on his face.

Lula cut in again, stabbing her finger in Jack's direction. "Which is a crime, might I add. Have you seen that man's face?" Jack curled his lip, clearly put off by her statement. It wasn't hard to see who our "new Horseman" was favoring the most.

"Did Dylan mention anything about this to you any of the times you were out with him?" Danny whispered to me, eyes still locked on our leader. I shook my head.

Merritt reached out and laid his hand on top of my head, ruffling my hair a little. "Much as I appreciate the addition of some femininity to the group, over and above what Atlas provides," he said, flashing Danny another cheeky grin; Danny glared. "And our dear Andie, of course," he added, winking down at me. "I think the real issue is we've been in this - "

"Yeah, the issue is that we have been rehearsing for months for something... We don't even know what it is," Danny snapped, interjecting.

Dylan was unfazed. "And you're going to keep working until - "

"Until we work as a single organism," Danny broke in once more, venom quickly seeping into his voice. "I know, I've heard you say that. The thing is, when you say that, I think what you're referring to is us, y'know, not you." I elbowed him sharply in the ribs; he hardly flinched.

Dylan's dark eyes were angry. "Listen, I'm getting my orders directly from the Eye. Okay?" His voice is cold. "And then I give them to you. Now, if you don't like that, you're welcome to go."

"No, I'm not going anywhere. But I'm..." Danny broke off, humming to himself. "I'm taking care of myself."

I raised an eyebrow, finding my voice for the first time in a while. "Taking care of yourself?" I said, drawing his attention down toward me. "And where do I fit into this, Daniel?" His face paled slightly, but the fire didn't leave his eyes.

Before Danny could respond, Lula _once again_ asserted her presence. "Guys, can I just weight in here really quickly?" _No,_ I wanted to say. I stayed silent. "Because I think I see what's going on here. You guys are this amazing, tight-knit family unit. I'm a new person - "

Merritt cut her off. "We are anything but a family," he said, sliding his hand off my head and returning it to his side. That stung a little, but he gave me a small smile, so I assumed that the statement was mostly intended for Danny.

"Okay, well, my mother literally knifed my father in the neck one time," Lula said, pantomiming stabbing herself in the side of the neck. "So you are actually a little bit like my family unit."

Everyone's eyebrows were raised. Who the hell had Dylan invited to join us? "Literally?" Merritt said.

Lula shrugged. "But, yeah. It was an accident. I think."

Merritt waved her words away and looked back at Dylan. "Okay. So, does this mean we're actually going to do something?"

Dylan seemed much more relaxed now that the focus was back at the task on hand. "Yes." There were a few smiles of relief scattered around the group. "You've all heard of Octa and their playboy CEO, Owen Case. His partner, Walter Mabry, died about a year ago. You wanna know what all this has been leading to?"

"Yeah," Lula said, and the rest of us nodded.

"Octa's hosting the launch of the next-gen cell phone." Dylan pulled out a large rolled up sheet of paper and spread it out on the table. The paper was black, and I reached over and snatched one of the special flashlights off the corner of the table to shine it on the surface. Dylan continued speaking. "Once these phones hit the streets, they'll siphon their users' information to the black market. Meaning Octa's selling privacy to up their profit. So, the Eye has decided to expose them for it. Our mission is to hijack the show."

We were all shining the blue light from the flashlights on the paper, slowing revealing the blueprints embedded within. The mechanisms they outline look complex, but our role in how things play out seems pretty simple. Things should go well. It's our time to get back out in the world again.

"Rehearsal's over, guys," Dylan said. I glanced away from the blueprints and up at him, flashing him a warm smile. He returned it. "This is what we've been waiting for. Now it's time to get to work."

The five of us - six of us now, I guess - continued looking over the blueprints. Danny and Merritt were muttering to each other, Lula looked like she was going to burst from excitement, and Jack was eyeing her from across the table as though he was afraid she was going to make an attempt at him again. Dylan caught my eye as I looked around and motioned with his head for me to step away and speak to him. I did.

"Doing okay?" he asked as we moved out of earshot of the rest of the group. I nodded. "Sleeping through the night still?"

I shrugged. "For the most part, yeah. I wake up occasionally, but I'm able to fall back asleep pretty quickly." My cheeks grew warmer and I smiled down at my shoes. "I really appreciate everything you've done for me. I'm in a lot better of a place now, mentally, than I was before."

Dylan was grinning. "Hey, I'm glad to hear that." He paused for a moment, occasionally glancing toward the group assembled around the table. None of them were paying attention to us. "Er, Andie?" I hummed. "Are things okay with you and Atlas? You sounded a little tense earlier."

Part of me wanted to laugh; the other part of me wanted to cry from frustration at my idiotic, egocentric boyfriend. I was torn between confessing everything that had gone down this morning, especially considering Danny was undermining Dylan's authority and that seemed like pertinent information, and wanting to keep my relationship problems private. In the end, I settled for the second option. "I'm just kind of annoyed with him right now. It's nothing you need to be worried about though, okay? We'll be fine." _Hopefully._

Dylan stared out at the group again and exhaled slowly through his nose. "They're all upset with me about Lula," he said finally. His brown eyes were sad.

"I'll admit I'm not too happy with you, either," I said. Dylan looked over at me, eyebrows raised in surprise. "She broke into my apartment, Dylan. Set up a bunch of elaborate stunts like she was trying to impress us, or intimidate us, or something. And she knew _everything_. Did you tell her about Henley leaving, or about Jack really being alive?" Dylan only watched me. "We don't even know her, and you've thrown her in with us without any sort of warning. You've kept us out of the loop on literally everything, and now this? A surprise Horseman who for some reason can't grasp the fact that _I am also a female and also in this group_?"

He didn't respond for a while, but after a minute, he broke into a smile. "She'll grow on you, Andie. I promise she will. She's a very talented young woman who just wants to prove herself to the rest of you. She really looks up to the four of you." I folded my arms across my chest and frowned. "Just give her a chance. This is all going to be great."

I sighed and nodded after a moment. Satisfied, Dylan led me back over to the table and I settled between Merritt and Danny again. Merritt hardly spared me a glance but Danny looked down at me, a silent question in his eyes that I didn't feel like answering. Whatever information he wanted to glean from my conversation with our leader was only going to fuel whatever little rebellion he was going through. I wouldn't give him the means to further distance himself from Dylan - and the rest of us. I'd spent so long desperately trying to sink my hooks deeper into him to keep him reeled in and with us, but with each passing day it was as though he was drifting farther and farther away from me.

This morning was all the proof I needed to realize that he was moments away from leaping off our bandwagon and into his own vessel to steer himself in whatever direction he thought would benefit him the most. I had no idea where I fit into his future plans anymore. But we would talk about it later. We would. And I would do everything I could to convince him to stay. Because right now, looking at the intense, frustrated expression on his face, I was no longer angry with him for trying to undermine Dylan and become leader himself.

I was absolutely terrified.


	8. Chapter Seven

****Chapter Seven****

~Andie~

"What were you talking to Dylan about for so long?"

I exhaled heavily through my nose, narrowing my eyes at the back of Danny's head as he walked up the stairs ahead of me. "It kills you, doesn't it? Not being included in every little thing."

He hardly flinched. He didn't speak again until we were up the stairs and through the door to our apartment. We'd parted ways with the others immediately after the meeting, with Dylan promising to send us details on where to meet soon. We'd been silent the entire way home. But now it was as though the floodgates had opened up in Danny's lungs.

"You told him about this morning, didn't you?" he snapped, rounding on me as soon as he got the front door slammed shut. Was that real anger on his face? It'd been a while since he'd been truly angry with me; unlike every other time, though, this was unwarranted.

I threw my jacket down on the arm of the couch, which still had Lula's body shell flopped on top of the cushions. She couldn't even be bothered to collect her things when she ran off? "No, Danny, I didn't," I said tersely, moving toward the kitchen to see what I could throw together for dinner. Confrontation made me hungry.

Danny followed after me, the heels of his shoes tapping against the wood floor. I made a mental note to put him in charge of the floors next time we cleaned. "I don't believe you," he said. "Why wouldn't you tell him?"

"Why would I?" He scoffed; I rolled my eyes. The fridge was nearly empty; we'd have to go grocery shopping in the next couple of days. There was a frozen pizza in the freezer, though, and I supposed that would suffice. I set the oven to the correct temperature and turned around, leaning my hips against the counter with my arms folded across my chest. "I didn't tell him, Danny."

He stood across the kitchen table from me, fingers clenched around the top of one of our chairs. His blue eyes were dark; his ears were red. "What else could you have been talking about for so long? Unless you're conspiring some way to make me just shut up and listen like you and the others?"

"Clearly you _need_ to be taught how to shut up and listen, because you're not doing it right now," I said, pushing aside the sting of his words. Danny took a step back, seemingly startled, as I turned away and slid the frozen pizza into the oven. "Forgive me for preferring to keep our _disagreements_ private," I said. I shut the oven door - a little rougher than necessary, I will admit - and looked back at Danny, who was only staring at me. "It wasn't Dylan's business. I didn't tell him. Got it?"

For a moment, no one spoke. Danny and I maintained intense eye contact, each sizing the other person up, until Danny finally blinked and looked away from me. "Got it," he said quietly. He removed his hands from the back of the chair, shook them out, and tucked them into the pockets of his jeans. "So, uh..." He cleared his throat and gave me a small, sheepish smile. "What did Dylan want, then?"

If I had wanted an apology, I likely wasn't going to get one. Not from him. But that was alright; I'd been putting up with his bullshit for a couple of years at that point, and was well prepared to deal with anything concerning J. Daniel Atlas. So I merely smiled in return and leaned against the counter again. "He wanted to check in with me about my nightmares."

"And?"

"I told him they've gotten a lot better," I said.

One of Danny's eyebrows went up. "And you weren't lying, right?"

My smile broadened into a grin. "Right. You didn't notice things have improved?"

He walked away from the table and crossed the kitchen to stand in front of me, arms outstretched. I leaned into his chest automatically, resting my head on his collarbone as he held me. "I noticed you weren't waking me up during the night anymore," he said. A chuckle vibrated through his chest. "I know you don't like when I bother you about how you're doing; I figured you'd let me know if something was wrong again."

"Well, you were right," I said, letting my eyes fall shut. I was still bothered by what had happened this morning, bothered by the argument we'd just had, and bothered by the whole Lula situation, but none of that was so important that it'd mess up what Danny and I had. I wouldn't allow it. Everything was going to be alright.

I pulled away from Danny, moving my hands up to his shoulders to get him to look at me. He did, blue eyes fixated on my own. "Dylan also told me that Lula is going to grow on us and that we have to give her a chance." I rolled my eyes, flashing a smirk. "So you're not allowed to jump ship yet, alright? You can't leave me alone with her and those other two dorks."

Danny seemed a little taken aback at me mentioning his potential abandonment of the Horsemen so casually, but it only took him a moment to laugh. "Okay, I think I can stick around to keep you sane."

"Thank you."

The oven timer went off then, making the both of us jump. Danny laughed at my startled expression and leaned in to press a kiss to my nose. "Am I allowed to have some of the pizza you made?" he asked sweetly, fluttering his eyelashes at me.

I rolled my eyes again, this time with a smile. "Of course you can."

oOoOo

"Welcome, Octa insiders, bloggers, and journalists. We're delighted that you've joined us to participate in our special event. Today marks the beginning of a bright new journey into social networking. Our latest product, Octa 8..."

I shook my head, tuning out the announcer woman's voice. I already knew everything I needed to about Octa 8 and how "amazing" and "advanced" it was. The only "amazing" thing about it was how amazingly well it infringed on users' privacy and siphoned information off to the highest bidder. Advanced, yes. Good? No.

I was standing off to the side of a large room at the expo center where Owen Case, the man behind the whole scheme, was set to unveil this new phone. I had a messenger bag slung across my shoulders with the strap of it gripped tightly in both of my hands. Inside was a small notepad and a new laptop, one without any sort of identifying information on it, just in case it falls into the wrong hands. I was supposed to be portraying a blogger getting the inside scoop on Octa 8; I'd already spoken with a few passersby about their opinions and anticipations, all as a ploy to keep an eye out for Owen Case.

At the same time, Jack was impersonating a security guard at the front of the expo, checking bags and confiscating electronics from the journalists and bloggers - myself, however, he conveniently allowed to slip by. Across from me was Lula, dressed as a chef's assistant and helping to prepare hors d'oeuvres for the big-wigs milling about this back area. Merritt was a few yards on my right, disguised as an exec waiting to get Case alone to hypnotize him. Danny was off doing his thing, playing several different roles in quick succession. I'd run through it with him several times the night before. Frankly, his costume changes were impressive. We were good to go for the reappearance of the Horsemen, and the downfall of Owen Case and Octa.

"We're all good," Jack's voice said in my ear. "I'm heading to the control room."

Dylan, from within the auditorium area, responded immediately. "Alright. Thanks, Jack. Atlas, go."

"No, Dylan, I can't."

I perked up just slightly. Where had Danny run into trouble? We'd gone through the plan a million times; things should have been running flawlessly. Dylan was of the same idea. "What? What's the problem?"

"No, there's too many people," Danny said.

"Atlas, I got Owen landing _now_ ," Dylan said, the urgency plain in his voice. Merritt, Lula, and I glanced around, seeking out the double doors through which we were expecting the CEO to come strolling through. Off in the distance, I could see a few figures heading across an expansive parking lot.

There was a pause on Danny's end, and then - "Okay, I'm going now."

I exhaled slowly, adjusting my fake glasses. If things were going correctly, Danny was about to come in from the side, intercepting Case as he entered the building - which was going to be in the next thirty seconds. I held my breath, noticing Merritt tensing up out of the corner of my eye. I plastered an eager look on my face; I was supposed to speak with Case after Danny got the signature he needed, and any tech blogger would likely be excited at the opportunity. Time to wipe the strained expression off my face.

Just as Owen Case and his team walked through both sets of double doors, Danny appeared, striding up from behind the group with his own pair of fake glasses on and a briefcase and clipboard in his hands. Case's annoyed voice carried from across the room. "Look, the speech is about freedom, okay? That's what we're trying to sell here, is freedom. Which part of that do you not understand? For goodness' sake."

At that moment, Danny popped up beside him, easily keeping pace with Case's long strides. "Mr. Case, John from legal. Just need your signature for release." Case took the pen Danny offered him and signed the forms without a glance in Danny's direction. Perfect. "Thank you so much," Danny said. He yanked the clipboard back and headed off in a different direction, but not before flashing me a quick smile over his shoulder.

Now Danny was supposed to be heading for the control room, where he would trick the security guards into thinking the man in charge of running the controls was actually escaped from a mental facility. Jack would aid in escorting the man out while Danny tampered with the controls. At the same time, I would be working my own magic on Owen Case, trying to get a choice line or two out of him - for exploitation purposes, you know.

I waited patiently, one hand back on my messenger bag strap while the other fished out the small notepad and a pen. My toe tapped incessantly against the polished flooring. It'd been a while since I'd performed in front of a crowd. Tricking Case into revealing something while also making him a little nervous was by no means a performance of grand parameters, but it was more than I'd done in quite some time. Case was led over to a table by the members of who I presumed to be his exec team, and a waiter brought drinks over for them while they stood and waited for the show to begin. I watched as half of the drink in Case's glass disappeared; at Merritt's quick nod, I jogged forward.

"Mr. Case!" I called out, holding up my notepad and pen in a sort of half wave. I stuck the same overly-eager grin on my face and skidded to a stop beside his table, ignoring the other people with him who immediately tensed up at my approach. "Mr. Case, I was wondering if I could ask you a couple questions?"

Owen Case swirled his drink around and looked me over with a lazy, somewhat amused expression. "Are you a reporter?"

"Um, a blogger, actually," I answered, bouncing on the balls of my feet. "I run this tech enthusiast blog, y'know, talking about and reviewing all the latest gadgets and discussing them with my readers. I'm - I'm still working on getting a bigger following but my readers absolutely love you and we've all been anxiously anticipating Octa 8 for _so long_ and I was just wondering if maybe I could get a statement or two from you to hype everyone up even more?" I don't think of rambling as a particular talent of mine, but I'm good enough at it to draw a confused expression out of the young CEO.

Case's blue eyes scanned me once again as he quickly swallowed the last of his drink. "Why aren't you in the auditorium with the rest of the journalists and bloggers?"

I give a nonchalant shrug. "I get a little claustrophobic sometimes so it was getting kind of hard to breathe so I thought I'd come out for a bit of air and then I saw you walk in and thought 'Wow, now's my chance to meet him and ask him a question or two' and naturally I couldn't afford to pass up that opportunity so, uh, how about it?"

There was a moment of silence, in which Case stared me down and his team members stared _him_ down, very clearly not wanting him to speak to me anymore. "What's your question, then?" he said finally. He leaned toward me, arms crossed with his elbows pressed against the table.

"I just wanted a tagline, like something quick to really _sell_ Octa 8 to my readers, you know what I mean?" I clicked my pen, hand poised to write down whatever he was getting ready to say.

He only thought for a moment before a small, shit-eating grin spread itself across his features. "How about 'Freedom as you've never experienced before.' Is that catchy enough for you?" His expression was smug, and I had to focus all of my attention on scribbling the line down so I didn't reach out and smack the smirk off his face.

"Atlas, Stooge has left the building," Jack said in my ear. The control room operator was out of the picture, then. Perfect.

"Okay. The circuit board is ours. I am leaving backstage," Danny responded.

"Andie, I'm coming your way," Jack said.

 _Excellent. Time to get in trouble._ "Freedom, huh?" I said, looking up from my notepad to lock eyes with Case. He raised an eyebrow at me. "I've read a lot of reports saying that there seems to be something fishy about the 'Terms and Conditions' with Octa 8, but nobody can really figure out what it is. Something about privacy violations and black market deals." While I was speaking, Owen Case had risen up to his full height, blue eyes darkening. I smiled a little, my own eyes narrowing, and I tilted my head to the side. "You wouldn't happen to have a statement on that, would you?"

"I have no idea what you could be talking about," Case said, eyes blazing. Footsteps sounded from behind me, and I quickly tucked my notepad into my messenger bag. "Security, I want her _gone_. She's not allowed anywhere near the auditorium. Get her out of here."

A hand locked around my upper arm and tugged. "Right away, Mr. Case," Jack said, looking down at me. I managed to keep a straight face as he dragged me away.

As soon as we were down a hall and out of sight, I laughed and slapped Jack a high five. "Everything is going according to plan," I said cheerily. "I got the tag line from Case. Jack and I are headed to set things up," I said, this time into the mics.

"Alright," Dylan said immediately. "Lula, show these guys what you're made of." I was really hoping by "guys," Dylan meant the general term meant to encompass everyone lounging in the room Jack and I just left, and not "guys" as in our team. Because I was most definitely not a guy.

I think I was taking this whole "Lula is the girl Horseman" thing a bit too much to heart.

Anyway, Lula was tasked with creating a diversion to get Case separated from his people so that Merritt could swoop in and steal him away for hypnosis. From the way we'd rehearsed, she was going to pretend to cut off her arm with a kitchen saw. Pretty gross, but it would do the desired job.

Jack and I ducked into the backstage area of the auditorium, where Danny, Merritt, Lula, and I would enter for our performance. Jack would stand guard at one of the side doors, still playing the role of security guard. For now, he was keeping me company as I yanked the laptop out of my bag and set it down on a small table off to the side. It booted up quickly, and I pulled up several different news sites and the blogs of those I knew were in attendance. "Let's see just how big our impact really is," I said quietly, now looking up data on Octa's stocks. I was hoping to see a huge plummet in numbers after our performance.

"Remind me what you've got this all set up for?" Jack said from over my shoulder.

"Dylan wanted me to monitor what sort of articles get written after we're through with this performance. We don't want any sort of doubt that Case and Octa are criminals, and we'll be able to tell most effectively by the sort of reports that come out during the show."

Jack hummed. "But I took people's phones at security."

I rolled my eyes at him, a small smile on my face. "You really think you managed to get all of them? These people are professionals; at the very least, they have some sort of recording device on them. How else would they retain all the information they're expecting to hear?"

He ruffled my hair with one hand. "Y'know, you're smarter than you look. And you look pretty damn smart in those glasses."

Shit. I'd almost forgotten the glasses. I yanked them off my face and tossed them aside, moving to remove my hair from its pins next. I'd needed to look cute and professional, not something I normally aimed for - well, professional, at least. The scarf and cardigan went next, leaving me in my pencil skirt and button down shirt. As usual, the Horsemen were keeping to their black and white theme. Aside from Jack, of course, who was still decked out in the green security uniform. I smirked. "Nice outfit. Bet Lula thinks you're real cute in it."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Don't start with me."

"I'm not starting anything."

The announcer's voice reverberated from the speakers outside again. The show must've been about to begin. "Welcome, everybody! And now, the moment that you've all been waiting for..."

Merritt and Lula burst into the room at the same time, Lula laughing a little and seeming slightly delirious from her stunt. Maybe she'd suffered some actual blood loss. "Nice work, lady," Merritt said. The mentalist looked at Jack and I and nodded slightly. "Should've seen it. Truly disgusting."

Lula beamed. "Thanks."

From beside me, Jack chuckled. "I'm actually nervous, and I'm not even going onstage."

Lula appeared on his other side,because of course she did. "You know, I've heard that if you're nervous, it can be really helpful to picture each other naked."

A hand grabbed mine suddenly, and I had to restrain myself from jumping. Danny stepped up next to me, adjusting his tie with his free hand. "It's actually picture the audience naked," he said, shaking his head. He looked down at me, smiling slightly. "How'd it go with Case?"

"It went well," I answered, smiling back.

Lula kept going, because of course she did. "No, this is new. This is a new science." Jack continued to stare forward, seeming unimpressed. "So, I don't know. Do you want... We should try it."

"Not the right mood," Jack said, sighing a little. I shook my head; you had to give the girl props for persistence, I guess.

Merritt spoke up from Danny's other side. "Guess that leaves you and me, old buddy."

Danny started. "What? Picture each other... No. No, thank you." I snorted as his face turned bright red.

Merritt motioned to his own body, making a show of it. "I mean, I admit, from the neck up there are issues. But from the neck down, the David." My stomach ached; it was exceedingly difficult to restrain giggles. Jack was snickering as well. Danny only squeezed my hand.

"Owen Case," the announcer person said, using her introductory tone.

Merritt lifted his finger to his ear, projecting to where Owen Case was standing in front of a camera, ready to echo anything Merritt said. "Good morning, Octa-lites. Now, I've made the claim that Octa 8 is pure magic. But the truth is, that's just one of those things I say. When in fact, I mean something else." The crowd outside was deathly silent. "What else do I mean? Well, here to fill you in on some of my fabulous lies and hypocrisy, and to perform some of the most dazzling feats of magic you have ever seen, they are the world's greatest magicians."

From outside now, the noise has grown to an almost deafening roar. Had Merritt not been standing with us, I likely wouldn't have been able to hear our introduction. While this was happening, Jack slipped out of the room, heading to his post. Lula watched him go; I stared straight ahead, listening. Merritt/Case was still going. "Here to expose me for the fraud I truly am. Ladies and gentlemen, here are the Horsemen."

The remaining four of us ran forward, bursting through the doors to appear as though we were breaking through the screens we'd been waiting behind. I was breathless immediately, staring out at a crowd full of cheering people, screaming in anticipation of _us_. I'd never get over the feeling. Merritt and Danny were basking in the attention; Lula looked absolutely star struck. The entire audience was on its feet. I tried to seek Dylan out from the crowd and spotted him hiding in the shadows beside one of the sets of bleacher seats. He lifted his hand in a wave; I only grinned in response.

"Hello, New York!" Danny said, voice amplified by his mic. "Thank you so much."

Merritt chimed in, "Hey, it's great to be back."

I pressed both hands over my heart in a show of sincerity. "We missed you all." Truer words had never been spoken.

Danny motioned toward Lula, who was still frozen in place. "And have you met our newest Horseman, Lula?" The crowd cheered; Danny nodded at Lula. "Feels good, right?"

"Pretty good," Lula said with a nod, a wide grin on her face. "Pretty good."

Eventually, the crowd began to settle down, allowing us to get down to business. Danny was up first. "Thank you, thank you. Um, okay. We want to talk to you about your privacy. What does privacy mean to you?"

"Because apparently to Owen Case," Merritt added. "it means absolutely nothing."

Lula jumped in next. "No, actually, it means less than absolutely nothing. You see, he's _mocked_ your privacy. He's scorned it."

"Right, and we're not just talking about the things that you already agreed to when you signed, probably without reading, the 'Terms and Conditions' of Octas 1 through 7." Danny strolled across the stage to me, setting a hand on the small of my back. "It's more than that. And, believe me, folks, it's so much worse."

I opened my mouth to speak, but froze when I heard Jack's voice in my ear. "Dylan, the FBI is here."

Dylan was quick to respond. "Alright. Don't worry about it. Alright, go to plan C-4. Lock the doors." I watched as Dylan ducked through the doors into the lobby area, heart beating just a little bit quicker.

C-4 was fine. C-4 was locking the auditorium doors so that the FBI, or any other form of law enforcement, couldn't get in to stop us before we could finish our show. Everything was under control. It was fine. So I went on, pretending as though nothing had happened.

"You see, everyone, I had a little conversation with Owen Case before this whole show started. I asked him what tagline he thought would sell Octa 8 as the best product on the market - what would sell it out in _minutes_. You know what he told me?"

Danny's hand left my back as he maneuvered to another part of the stage, but not before he shot me a quick wink and a grin. I smiled back before going on. "He told me 'Freedom as you've never experienced before.' And he's right; you _haven't_ experienced freedom like this from a phone, and that's because it isn't freedom at all. It's an infringement on your privacy."

I took a step back, wandering toward Merritt, as Lula took over. "Before we start the show, we had Owen agree to a few terms and conditions of our own. So, everything that he had once considered private - "

Lula's mic cut out, even as her mouth kept moving. There was a slight whining sound from the speakers - something faulty in her mic, probably. Danny rushed to recover the set. "Yeah, everything that he once considered private is now - "

With an awful screeching sound, Danny's mic went out as well. Everyone's hands flew to their ears, trying to block out the sound. All around us, the screens were blinking rapidly, a conglomeration of different faces flashes all across them. "Danny?" I called out, voice lost to the noise in the room. "Danny, what's going on?"

A voice, grating and robotic and loud enough to make my ribcage shake, filled the room, silencing all of the different voices and protests coming from the audience. "As the Horsemen like to say, magic is about controlling perception. You see them as champions of the truth, but are they? Or is that just another one of their illusions?"

The four of us were frozen where we stood, staring at the screens with wide eyes. _Where the hell is Dylan? What do we do?_

"So, since they clearly love secrets, let's reveal some of theirs."

Right on cue, Dylan's voice filled my ears. "Danny, everyone, get off the stage. Abort." Another screeching noise sounded, momentarily cutting him off. "Jack, go with them. I'll see you at the meet-up point."

Danny walked quickly over to me and grabbed my hand, pulling on it. "Let's go," he said urgently. It only took me a moment to respond, following along behind him. Not running, though; we had to look like everything was at least _somewhat_ under control still.

The robotic voice wasn't done. "Do you recall the death of Jack Wilder?" I froze, dragging Danny to a stop just as we were almost off stage. "What if I told you he's not just alive, but he's actually right here."

A spotlight flashed on, lighting up the exact spot where Jack was attempting to creep along the wall to get out of the auditorium with us. He stopped for only a moment before taking off at a dead sprint to get to us as everyone in the auditorium began yelling. I had no way of knowing whether they were pleased that he was alive or pissed that we'd hidden that fact.

"And do you know who else is here? The FBI. Let's let them in, shall we?" The doors unlocked automatically, and the FBI agents flooded in, creating even more chaos. I managed to spot Dylan among the crowd before Danny was tugging me forward again, shouting for me to move faster.

"And now, for the big reveal. There's a sixth Horseman, and he's the biggest criminal of them all." My blood ran cold. _Oh no._ "FBI agent, Dylan Rhodes."

There was a lot of commotion from behind us. I tried to turn around, to run back and grab Dylan, but Danny kept a tight hold of my hand and kept propelling me forward. _Please be okay,_ I thought frantically, sprinting out of the room, up some stairs and a ladder, and out onto the roof of the building. _Please, please be okay._

Jack was yelling from up ahead. "We've gotta get to the chute. Go!"

"Who are those guys?" Lula shouted. I really hoped she didn't mean the FBI.

"Who cares? Come on!" Merritt tossed back, right on her heels. Danny and I brought up the rear, him still with a firm grasp on my fingers.

We shot up and over another ladder, congregating a few yards from the chute we'd set up before the show that would deposit us in the back of our getaway truck. "How the hell could this happen?" Merritt had both hands on his hat, turning in circles. "I thought Dylan had everything under control."

"Yeah. Apparently he didn't," Danny said. I squeezed his hand, trying to make it hurt, but he didn't even flinch.

"Maybe you're the leak, Dan," Merritt snapped, stepping forward to get in Danny's face. "Where you been sneaking off to?"

Danny's voice was venomous. "Don't do that. Don't you dare for a second insinuate that I had - "

"I'm not insinuating. That's your - "

Jack broke between the two of them, motioning toward the chute. "Let's get to the truck, come on!"

Like Danny had suddenly snapped out of whatever hate rage he'd had going on, he pulled me forward again, becoming somewhat of a concerned parent. "Stay together! Move!"

Jack paused at the top of the chute. "Lula, come on!"

"Coming!"

She launched herself through the chute right behind him. Merritt went next, and I followed immediately after Danny. The short tunnel was filled with screaming as the five of us slid down, coming to an abrupt stop at the end. I landed on top of Danny, who only groaned a little bit as I climbed off of him.

"Are we in a - " I paused, brushing off my skirt and looking around. "Are we in a laundry basket? In a...kitchen?" The loud noise and shouting of chefs accompanied with the sounds and smells of food being prepared was telling enough, but - _what the actual hell?_ "Danny, where are we?"

"What the hell is going on?" Jack said, turning in circles.

Lula was just as confused. "Wasn't there supposed to be a truck?"

Danny managed to climb out of the laundry basket and came to stand beside me, taking my hand in his again. "Where the hell are we?" he asked, echoing my own words.

The chefs, seeming to finally notice we were all standing there, began shouting at us in Chinese, ushering us out of the kitchen and into the main dining area. Every person seated and eating looked up at us, probably confused at seeing so many disheveled white people being shooed out of the kitchen. Something was really wrong.

Danny turned to Jack. "Wait, did you mis-run the tube?"

Jack was immediately defensive. "No, I put it in the truck. I know I did!"

"Because we're really not in the truck right now."

Merritt brushed the two of them aside, looking around. "Somebody must have moved the tube. Were we above a Chinese restaurant." He paused, yanking his hat away from one of the chefs. "Give me that!"

Danny took a deep breath, seeming to calm himself a little. I squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back. "Okay. Why are we here?"

Lula held her stomach. "Why am I frickin' starving?"

Jack nodded slowly, still gazing around the restaurant. "Yeah, I'm weirdly starving, too." I hadn't notice the growling of my stomach until that moment, but it was almost uncomfortably painful. What the hell.

"This makes no sense," Merritt said. He pushed past the four of us and headed outside.

Lula shrugged a little. "At least, and I know this isn't much consolation, but apparently we're now surrounded by Chinese food. Right?"

I rubbed my face with my free hand. "Because that's so much help." I sighed, putting on a small smile and looking up at Danny. "Remember when you called me fat for saying I wanted Chinese food?"

His face turned pink. "Hey, I never _actually said_ that - "

He was cut off by Merritt walking back into the restaurant, looking as though he'd seen a ghost. "Guys, I think where we are right now, they don't refer to it as 'Chinese food.'" We all froze. "It's just called 'food.'"

My face paled. _Oh, fuck._


	9. Chapter Eight

****Chapter Eight****

~Andie~

 _China. How the hell did we end up in China?_

Danny was thinking the same thing. "Wait, what are you saying? How is this possible?" None of us had an answer for him.

Someone was laughing. There was a man seated in front of us, his back toward us, with a menu up to cover his face. In one motion, he dropped the menu and toward around. "I believe in your particular parlance, the word is 'magic.'"

Lula's voice dropped into a whisper and she elbowed Merritt. "That guy looks exactly like you. He looks _exactly_ like you. Are you seeing this right now?" She wasn't wrong; the man facing us looked like a carbon copy of Merritt, aside from his head of curly hair and the large grin on his face, which did not at all match Merritt's bald head and scowl.

"Chase," he said, a bitter edge to his voice.

"Must confess, it's like what I heard about meeting the Rolling Stones," Chase said, a cheeky smile on his face. "They're a lot shorter in person."

Merritt exhaled through his nose and looked down at me. "Remember I told you about the guy who screwed me out of everything?" I nodded, as did Danny and Jack. Lula only looked confused. "This is my twin brother, Chase."

Danny was quick to advance on Chase. "Wait, did you do this?" Immediately, every person in the restaurant got to their feet. Someone grabbed me from behind, twisting my arms behind my back; I shrieked in surprise. The rest of the Horsemen were grabbed in the same manner. Guns were being pointed at us from every direction.

Chase was laughing again. "As you can see, my boss don't mess around."

Lula tried waving her arms as she spoke, but the man restraining her made it noticeably difficult. "I do not understand what is going on right now. At all." She wasn't the only one - not that I'd admit that to her.

"Okay, let me break it down for you," Chase said, still seated across from us. He was the only person in the restaurant not on his feet. "You jumped off a rooftop in New York and you landed in Macau, a.k.a. the Vegas of China, and presto-change-o." He was laughing - _again_. "Don't you just love it? The 'greatest magicians in the world' are the object of someone else's magic trick. Isn't that poetic?" He paused. Silence. "No? You know what, I'm not gonna let you guys yuck my yam. Shoo-shoo. Or mu-shu. Whatever."

As soon as Chase waved his hand, the men holding onto us started to shove us none-so-gently toward the exit, forcing us along. Chase shouted after us, "Oh, and you know what they say, 'What happens in Macau...' Well, I don't know the rest of it, 'cause it's in Chinese."

The dude was crazy. And I thought _Merritt_ was weird.

We were pushed out of the restaurant and onto a busy street, being herded toward a line of black SUVs. The door opened to the vehicle in the middle, and one by one we were shoved inside. I wound up squished in the back row of seats with Danny on my left and Merritt on my right, while Jack and Lula sat in the row of seats just ahead of us. A few moments passed before Chase slid into the front seat, and then the line of cars was moving and we were driving off in some unknown direction.

And Chase just wouldn't stop talking. He was almost chattier than Lula. As he wasn't the one driving, he was free to be turned around in his seat, looking at us as he told stories. Also, he was the kind of person to unironically wear sunglasses at night. Why? I had no idea. "It's all about blind spots," he was saying. "When you're staring straight at something, and not see it. Why?" He paused. "Blind spots."

I groaned. Danny set his hand on my knee, staring out the window. "Kill me," I whispered; he smiled.

"We learned that together, didn't we, bro?" Merritt rolled his eyes and didn't answer. Chase, unfazed, continued speaking. "Did he tell you that we were partners once? No? I didn't think so. The 'Mini-McKinneys.'" He began to sing, "Chasey and a Mer-Bear. Gonna make you scare-bear. Ma-ma-magic McKinneys."

Merritt sighed very heavily. Lula turned around long enough to look at Merritt and say "cool" before turning back to Chase. Was she entertained? Everyone else seemed varying degrees of annoyed.

"And then, one day, we were twelve, and Virginia von Welsheim had a very nice problem down the street. I had a little tum-tum, couldn't go." I rolled my eyes; Chase literally spoke like a child. Was he expecting us to take him seriously? "Mer-Bear did it on his own, and got a taste of the solo thing, and uh, kicked me to the curb."

Jack threw his head back, only the whites of his eyes showing as he groaned. "Oh, God."

Merritt threw up his hands. "Chase, you win. I concede. Just tell me how you did it."

His twin's expression became very smug. "Delivery guy came to your door about a month ago, little 'za."

Danny looked at Merritt. "'Za?"

"Pizza."

Chase was grinning. "So, what he did, my little womb-mate, is he downloaded all of your private information, and my employer had all he needed."

Danny narrowed his eyes at Merritt. "Thanks." I elbowed him. He winced, then looked to Chase. "How did you know how to find him?"

When Chase spoke, his voice was dripping sarcasm and condescension. "That's a very good question, Atlas." He mimed zipping his lips, locking them, and then throwing the key away. Clearly, we were going to get no further answers from him. Not that he was overly helpful, anyway.

I leaned forward, resting my chin against the seats in front of my. Jack slid closer to he could hear me. "Were you not home when all that happened?" I asked quietly.

"I must not have been." He shrugged, then paused. "Well, actually, I remember asking Merritt to order us a pizza, and I went out to grab us drinks. When I came back, he was on the couch, and I just assumed he hadn't bothered to order us any. So I did it myself." Again, Jack shrugged. "Chase must've showed up sometime before then."

I sighed, running a hand over my face. "This is insane."

"I know."

"We're in China."

"I know."

"What are we going to do?" But Jack only shook his head at me. No one in the car had answers, at least not that they were willing to part with. All that was left to do was wait and see where the vehicle convoy stopped.

I didn't expect it to be out front of a big fancy hotel, however. I was picturing more of an abandoned warehouse deal, full of thugs waiting to kill us. This was not that sort of location, at least from what I could tell. The doors swung open and men in suits with guns strapped to their belts ushered us out of the car and onto the pavement.

Chase called out after us, "Just follow the guards. They'll take you to my boss." He threw a pointed looked at Merritt. "Been fun playing this cat-and-mouse with you, broski." He meowed for effect; I rolled my eyes. "Have fun at the Sands."

The lower level of the hotel was a huge casino, full to the brim with people. The guards shoved us along, one in front of us and one behind us, the casino goers blocking us in from every other angle. Merritt was just a step behind Danny and I, pleading. "I am so, so, so sorry," he said, genuinely sounding like he meant it. It was the most sincere I'd ever heard him speak.

"Yeah, you should be," Danny snapped. "Don't ever accuse me of betraying us again, okay?"

I shot him a sideways look. He knew full well that he was betraying us by going behind our backs and speaking to the Eye, regardless of whether he thought his intentions were good or not. Merritt couldn't help that his brother got the jump on him out of nowhere. Danny was doing everything intentionally.

We were pushed into an elevator that was only _just_ able to fit the five of us and the two men in suits. I was squished in between Danny, who had a tight grip on my hand, and Lula, who was rambling on again. "Do you guys ever think that the Eye is watching this? You know, that maybe this is even what they want? And at the exact right moment, they're gonna swoop in, and we'll be like 'Yes! Thank God you're here! Thank God! Just in the nick of time, Eye!' And then we'll just celebrate, and it was all worth it in the end?" She paused. No one answered her. "I don't even really think that either, so. It's cool."

"She's quite the piece of work, isn't she?" Merritt asked, leaning across Danny to whisper to me.

I rolled my eyes. "You're not kidding."

The elevator slowed to a smooth stop, the doors opening up behind us instead of in front. Rock music was filtering in from large speakers in the room. We all turned, spying a man standing across the room in front of a large window, dressed to the nines, aside from his bare feet. He was tossing a playing card and trying to catch it with his other hand, failing each time. I stifled a laugh; the guards probably wouldn't take too kindly to me making fun of their boss - if that was who the guy was.

Realizing that we had arrived, he spun around, arms out wide with a massive grin on his face. "Ta-da!" he declared grandly, even though he hadn't actually done anything. The music switched off at the same time, and he gestured toward us. "So happy to be working with you. Please, come in, come in."

The men in suits started to shove us forward and out of the elevator. I stumbled a little, tripping over Jack's foot, and shot him a look. He stuck his tongue out at me. The man had moved from the window to sit on the couch in the center of the room. He was tugging on a pair of shoes. I frowned; why did he look so familiar? Dark hair, blue eyes, kind of short, an English accent... I shook my head.

"Wait, sorry, how are you working with us?" Danny asked, also frowning.

The man looked up, grinned at Danny, and then focused back on his shoes. "Oh, well, as much as a magician who pulls a rabbit from a hat is working with that rabbit." Unless you're Lula, who does things the opposite way. The man stood, coming toward us. "We'll be working together. Yes. Allow me to introduce myself."

I had finally put my finger on who the man reminded me of when Jack spoke. "Yeah, you're Walter Mabry. You died a year ago."

The expression on his face was hard, until I leaned toward him and whispered, "I was going to say he looked like Harry Potter, personally, but I suppose that works too." Jack snorted quietly, smiling at me.

Walter, unfortunately, did not hear me. "Yes. An idea I got from you, Mr. Wilder. Fake your death, the world puts its guard down." He seemed so smug. "I'm able to control quite a few companies, including my old partner, Owen's, as a consortium of so-called anonymous shareholders."

I had only the vaguest idea of what that meant, so I was surprised when Lula caught on quicker than I did. "And that violates how many SEC laws?"

"I believe it breaks all of them," Walter said, completely unperturbed.

Lula's tone was sarcastic. "All of them," she said in mock surprise. I smiled a little.

Walter went on. "You see, you all want an audience. Need one, desperately. It's quite sad really." I glared at him; he caught my eye briefly and then glanced quickly away. "Hence, my ability to nab you. I, on the other hand, want the opposite of that. I just want to be, and I am, one hundred percent off the grid. You know why?"

"Yeah, because the grid is for actual human beings," Danny said coldly.

It was like nothing bothered the crazy rich guy. "No, because in a world of total surveillance, the only freedom lies in not being seen. You can't control the grid from within the grid. Follow me." No one moved. " _Follow me._ "

Again, we were shoved forward by the two men in suits, forced to walk after Walter, who had turned now to point at Lula. "You pulled a hat out of a rabbit. That was very colorful."

The other woman's face turned pink. "Almost eight and a half years ago. So, no need to bring that up."

Walter kept walking, kept talking. "We can't all be held accountable for our adolescent personas." He looked over his shoulder, eyes locked onto Danny. "Can we, Magicolio?"

Danny's face turned bright red. I hid my laughter behind my hand, though Merritt and Jack were less kind. Danny's eyes were on me, pleading. "Magicolio, that was fifteen years ago." I patted his arm gently. "You're not going to let me forget that, are you?"

"Not on your life, sport," I said cheekily.

Walter was still monologuing. "Don't get me wrong, I love magic. Like you and many others who, I suppose, were not getting any sex in high school - " I choked, as did Jack. " - I dabbled with it. But, unlike you, I was able to transition upward towards actual magic." Walter pointed. Bright lights switched on in a different part of the room, illuminating a big metallic box...thing. "Science, you may have heard it called."

 _Harry Potter doesn't do science, he does magic,_ I thought, bemused. _Yer not a scientist, Harry._

"So, would you like to know, my friends, just how I got you here?" Walter continued, looking expectantly at the five of us.

"We know how you did it," Merritt said, indicating toward our little group. We'd managed to piece together quite a bit of it on the drive over to this hotel, in between Chase's stories.

Walter frowned. "No, you don't."

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, you stole our files for the show, then obviously hypnotized us."

"Stop," Walter said, eyes growing wide. "No. Seriously, stop."

Merritt picked up where Jack left off. "The strobe was a combo of binaural beats, as well as - "

In half a second, Walter had lunged at Merritt and clapped his hands on either side of the mentalist's face, effectively silencing him. "I said stop!" he shouted. There was a brief pause. "You might not be having fun, but I am."

Merritt, bless him, was completely unfazed as he stared Walter down. "You have an unusual way of showing it."

After another few moments, Walter released Merritt's face, taking a slow step back. "So... How did I do it?" No one spoke for fear of Walter jumping on _them_ next. "Easy. You see, magicians like to control other people's perceptions. In your heightened state of agitation, you saw the simplest clues. Black tube, roof. And your minds filled in the rest. But the tube you meant to go down was twenty feet to your right." Walter waved his hands at us, motioning toward the couch. "Go on, sit down. There's no one standing in your way."

The guards shoved at us _again_ , pushing us toward the couch, which was surprisingly large enough to fit all five of us. I was seated on the end beside Danny, who was next Lula, who was next to Jack, with Merritt on the opposite end. There was a TV on a stand directly across from us, which Walter was now standing in front of.

"Anyway, once in the tube, yes, you're right. Blah, blah, blah, the strobe contained UV letters pulsing the world 'sleep.'" Walter was pacing, still talking. "And that, combined with the sound, put you into an instant alpha pattern. And from then on, it really was just fun. And, I can assure you, you don't know what happened." He came forward and squeezed himself in between Jack and Lula, the latter of which seemed very disappointed. Walter held up a remote and turned on the TV. A second later, the words "Our trip to Macau" appeared on the screen.

It started with a photo of the five of us passed out and slumped against each other on a bench inside a plane. While it was super creepy, I also had to smile a little to myself; the only way to get me peacefully on a plane was to completely knock me out, it seemed.

The photos only got weirder from there. There was Walter in a top hat flipping off our sleeping bodies, Jack sitting on top of Merritt, all of us lying on the floor covered in playing cards with Walter in the middle, taking a selfie. "That's really creepy," Lula said. "Really, really creepy."

There was even a photo of Walter throwing me over his shoulder, his foot on Danny's back as he laid facedown on the floor. That photo in particular seemed to especially amuse Walter, whereas it caused Danny's face to darken and his fingers to dig into my thigh, like he was prepared for Walter to attempt to grab me from him again. I was almost touched at the gesture, if I didn't think my leg was going to bruise from his grip. I leaned toward him and pressed a quick kiss to his shoulder, and his fingers relaxed.

As the slideshow continued, Walter grinned. "Yes, easy stuff, magic, if you put your mind to it."

Danny waved his hand at the screen. "Alright, that's enough." Walter cut the slideshow. "So, why are we here then? Besides you getting to show off how adorably clever you are." His tone suggested that Walter was being anything _but_ adorably clever.

"Well, to start with, the man you stole from last year, turns out I had invested quite a lot of money in some of his companies, so a lot of what you stole was, in fact, mine." Walter turned and fixed Danny with a piercing stare. Danny stared back, unflinching. I was so proud. After a moment, Walter looked away. "Good news is, it's very easy for you to pay me back. I just need your skills."

He pointed the remote at the TV again, this time to another slideshow. The first photo was of Owen Case. "Owen and I were like the Beatles, if the Beatles had been - "

"Elfin?" Danny supplied, one eyebrow raised. I snorted.

Walter was unamused. "Geniuses," he finished.

Lula shrugged a little, her tone light. "Pretty sure the Beatles _were_ geniuses."

She was ignored. "And like them, we had a dream. Could we create actual, genuine magic?"

 _Someone's bitter he didn't get his Hogwarts letter._ I was also bitter to not get _mine_ , but that was beside the point.

"And I'm guessing one of you achieved that dream, and it wasn't you?" Merritt said dryly.

"That is what he would like you to think." Walter got to his feet, pacing briefly before turning back to face us. "My vision was a perfect blend of elegance and technology. But Owen wanted it for himself, so he humiliated me by exposing my private files to the board of directors and convinced them that I am unstable."

Danny was quick to jump on it. "Did you take a picture of him while he was sleeping?"

I sighed. "I was going to say porn, yours was much funnier."

"Try harder next time," Danny teased. I stuck my tongue out at him.

Walter, again, was unamused. "He had me kicked out of my own company, and now he goes around taking credit for a chip that's not just the key to one computer, but every computer system on the planet. It can un-encrypt anything, crack the defense firewall, manipulate markets, and spy on anyone." This was beginning to sound like a very Not Good Thing™. "And now it's being sold to the highest bidder."

Jack spoke up from where he was fully reclined against the cushions, easily the most relaxed-looking out of all of us. "If you're so rich, why don't you just buy it?"

"So he gets the money? And the pleasure? No. No, no, no." Walter was smiling. It was definitely the expression of someone completely unstable. "Besides, why would I buy it when I could have you steal it for me?"

"Oh!" Lula said, very sarcastically. Was she starting to grow on me? Maybe. Slightly.

Walter went on. "It's being previewed tomorrow to the various suitors, which will include your targets, a crew led by a South African gangster."

"South African gangster," Lula said, while the rest of us inspected the photos he'd put up on the TV. None of our "targets" looked especially friendly.

"Yes," Walter said. "How your team gets past security, that's up to you. But once you do, you just need to inspect and steal it."

It was Danny's turn to be sarcastic. "That's it?"

Walter seemed to be genuinely surprised. "Come on, this is perfect for you, isn't it? You're magicians and thieves."

Jack, our resident pickpocket and expert thief, raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think we would even consider doing this?"

Walter paused, pretending to look thoughtful. "Oh, wait, I had a reason. What was it? Oh, yes. You see, back home, you're wanted criminals. But here, I control the police, the casinos, the media. I can give you a new life, out of hiding." His expression changed, becoming blank and very matter-of-fact. "And if you don't, I'll have you killed."

What a tempting offer.

Jack stood, advancing on Walter, who took a hesitant step backward. "You know what? I'm not stealing a thing for you. Not unless Dylan tells me it's okay."

"Really?" Walter said tauntingly. "Dylan is where, exactly?"

My temper flared and I rose to my feet at the same time as Lula. _No one_ would talk about Dylan like that. If I wasn't going to put up with it from Danny, there was no way in hell I would tolerate it from some scrawny sociopathic _loser_. I came to a stop beside Jack while Lula stood just a few steps behind. "It doesn't matter," she said at the exact time that I did. We exchanged a surprised look before nodding to each other. "Yeah, we're with him. So you can go ahead and kill us, because we're not gonna steal anything for you either."

Merritt was on his feet next, standing on Jack's other side, arms folded across his chest. Merritt was easily the most intimidating out of all of us, and Walter almost seemed nervous. "Strikes me that a consensus seems to be forming, Walter, and we're calling your bluff."

Before Walter could answer, Danny spoke from the couch. "Actually, we'll do it."

I whipped around toward him, fists clenched. "What?" Jack said incredulously.

"Danny, what the hell are you doing?" I hissed.

He only shrugged. "We're in Macau. The oldest magic store in the world is here. We'll get the supplies we need, and we'll do it." He got to his feet, brushed past the four of us, and shook Walter's hand.

"Thank you," Walter said. "It should be fun." He started to walk off, tossing over his shoulder, "Chase will take you to the magic shop in the morning." And then he was gone, disappearing to some other room somewhere. We were alone in the penthouse.

The tension was palpable in the room. Danny wasn't looking at me, but my gaze was locked onto the side of his head. Everyone's was, actually. Merritt was the first to speak, reaching out and grabbing Jack and Lula by the collars of their shirts. "Come on, kids, let's leave the happy couple to have it out."

As soon as they were out of the room, Danny turned to me, his face blank and his hands up in a placating fashion. I wasn't in the mood to be calmed down. "What the hell are you playing at?" I snapped, taking a step toward him. He didn't move. "You're not the leader of this group, Danny. You don't get to just decide things for us." He said nothing. "What makes you think this is a good idea?"

"I just have a feeling."

"You just have a _feeling_?" I threw my hands up, turning away from him to clench my fingers around my hair. "I don't understand why you have to constantly undermine Dylan's leadership."

Danny laughed. The sound was hollow. "Do you see Dylan anywhere? He can't help us anymore. He's probably still in New York, trying to figure out how he managed to mess up so badly. We're on our own, Andie, and I'm not going to let this team get killed for the sake of some man who hasn't been much of a help to us as of late."

My voice grew quiet. The sky was pitch black outside the large windows, lit up by the different lights from the buildings surrounding us. Macau's skyline was actually pretty beautiful, once you stopped to look at it. "You seemed to this he was pretty helpful when you called him about my nightmares," I said. "Or did you forget everything that he did for me?"

Danny didn't speak for a moment. I could feel his arms wrap around me from behind, pulling me back against his chest. He rested his chin on top of my head. "Of course I didn't forget that." His voice was just as soft as mine. "But Dylan's not here. We have no way of contacting him, and no way of knowing if he'll even figure out where we are. If we're going to make it out of this, we have to do what Walter says - to a point."

I turned around in his arms, leaning my forehead against his collarbone. "You have a plan."

"Not a full one, not yet." He took a step back, holding me by the elbows. "I need you to trust me, okay? I'm not going to let anything happen to us. To _any_ of us."

"Even Lula?"

"Even Lula."

I didn't know how much I _actually_ trusted Danny to pull us through this situation, but at the same time, I didn't want to die, and given how unstable Walter seemed, death could very likely be a possibility like he said. If the only way out was through, I could trust Danny on at least that. As much as he was getting on my nerves about the leadership thing, he was smart; he knew better than to put us all in direct danger.

So I nodded. "Alright. I'll trust you on this. Don't let me down."

He leaned in, kissing me quickly before stepping back again. "Thank you." The smile on his face was so bright it hurt to look at. "We should go find the others and figure out a plan. We don't have nearly as long as I'd like to work this out."

I smiled and took his offered hand. "Okay. Lead the way."


End file.
